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 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON. WALTER LOWRIE 
 
 EDITED BY HIS SON 
 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO 
 
 5 AND 7 EAST SIXTEENTH STREET 
 1896
 
 Copyright, 1896, by 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE first part of this book is a personal narrative 
 from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Butler, Penna., 1784 
 to 1810. The second part relates chiefly to public serv- 
 ice in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, the Senate 
 of the United States, and as Secretary of the United 
 States Senate from 1811 to 1836. Included, accord- 
 
 V) 
 
 ; ing to its date in 1830, is a Treatise on Divine Revela- 
 ^ tion, presumably from Mr. Lowrie's pen. The third, 
 | and chief, part is based largely on the writings of 
 Mr. Lowrie reports, journals and correspondence ; 
 and also on personal interviews and conversations with 
 $1 him as the Corresponding Secretary for thirty years 
 w of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States of America. 
 
 Referring to Dr. Ashbel Green's History of Pres- 
 
 c> byterian Missions, 1741 to 1838, page viii., where a 
 
 x second volume of the History is adverted to, these 
 
 Memoirs do not take its place. For a complete his- 
 
 jj! tory, an immense number of letters on file in the 
 
 3 Mission House would require examination. The plan 
 
 of this book implies, however, a full acquaintance 
 
 with the proceedings of the Executive Committee, to 
 
 be referred to so far as may be expedient. The cause 
 
 448908
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 of missions was greatly favored in having such emi- 
 nent clergymen as Drs. Phillips, Janeway, McElroy, 
 Spring, and others, and such laymen of influence as 
 Messrs. James Lenox, Walter Lowrie, David W. C. 
 Olyphant, and others, as members of the Executive 
 Committee. Their meetings were held every Monday 
 morning, excepting in the month of August. They 
 enjoyed the confidence of the church, and their coun- 
 cils were prospered from on high. 
 
 The editor of these Memoirs may refer to the priv- 
 ilege of his being connected with his revered father for 
 many years in the same work. This resulted from 
 separate appointments by the Board, which were not 
 sought for by either, and at first were declined by 
 both; but which eventually led to their occupying 
 adjoining oflices in the Mission House. Previously 
 they had been separated, when one of them went as a 
 missionary to India, in 1833, neither he nor his wife 
 expecting to return to this country. In a few weeks 
 after arriving at Calcutta she was called to her heav- 
 enly home an event full of distress to the survivor, 
 though of joy to herself. Their esteemed colleagues, 
 after some months, embarked for this country, under 
 medical orders for Mr. Heed's health ; but he de- 
 parted this life soon on the voyage. His classmate 
 and colleague endeavored to fulfill their mission by 
 going alone to the selected station, at Lodiana ; but 
 eventually had to return home for his health. Partially
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 regaining health, he applied to the Board to be sent 
 again to his field. Under medical counsel, this 
 request had to be refused. Service as a pastor was 
 then available ; but by the Board it was considered 
 that the time spent in India would be of use in the 
 Mission House, where additional service was already 
 required. He was thus again connected with his 
 beloved father; and for thirty years it was his great 
 privilege to be associated with him in his work for 
 our blessed Lord. For nearly as long a period he has 
 survived him, still engaged in the same work. Of 
 late, much of his time has been occupied with these 
 Memoirs. Imperfect as they are, may they be 
 accepted of God, and be useful to His people! 
 
 JOHN C. LOWKIE. 
 63 Fifth Avenue, New York, 1896.
 
 SUMMARY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A PERSONAL NARRATIVE, 1784-1810, ... 1 
 
 PUBLIC OR Civic LIFE, 1811-1836, ... 20 
 
 FAMILY LIFE, 1806-1868, 28 
 
 TREATISE ON DIVINE REVELATION, 1830, . 32 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONARY SUBJECTS, .... 82 
 
 MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIANS . . . 134 
 
 MEMORIALS, 173 
 
 INDEX, 191
 
 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 A PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 
 
 I WAS born in the City of Edinburgh, on the 10th 
 day of December, 1784, of poor, respectable and pious 
 parents. My father's ancestors for several genera- 
 tions were of that rigid class, the Covenanters ; but 
 disliking their censorious spirit, he left them, and 
 joined the Presbyterian Church. In it he has been 
 a member from early age, and for many years a rul- 
 ing elder. He is a man of strong and independent 
 mind, and, though only a common English scholar, 
 during a long life he has acquired a great deal of 
 useful information. In every place where he has 
 resided, he has been respected and esteemed, and 
 has sustained the character of an honest and relig- 
 ious man. 
 
 My mother was from the Highlands, and belonged 
 to the clan of the Camerons. Her Celtic ancestors 
 for hundreds of years had lived and died amidst the 
 heather, and the straths, and the blue, misty lakes 
 of their own rugged country. Her father took an 
 active part under Lochiel, the chieftain of the clan, 
 in the rebellion of 1745, and, although he escaped
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 with his life, he lost all his property. My parents 
 were married young my father in his 22d year, and 
 my mother in her 16th year. At that time my 
 mother could not speak a word of English, but my 
 father, though a resident of the Lowlands, spoke the 
 Gaelic fluently. I scarcely know an excellence of 
 the female character which my mother does not 
 possess. Kind, affectionate and benevolent, with 
 deep and uniform piety, the study of her life has 
 been to make her husband and her children happy. 
 My father is warm in his temper, and sometimes 
 passionate. My mother is mildness itself, and 
 judgment, prudence and discretion mark her every 
 step. 
 
 In August, 1792, my father, with his family, 
 emigrated to the United States. The family consisted 
 of a brother and three sisters older than myself, and 
 a brother and sister younger. Two other sisters 
 were afterwards added to the family. After a pros- 
 perous voyage, we landed in New York in September. 
 Here my father left the family, and proceeded on 
 foot to Huntingdon County, Penn., where one of his 
 early friends resided, and where he purchased a 
 small farm. The same autumn he returned to New 
 York, and removed the family to that place. This 
 long journey was to be made in wagons. A light 
 wagon, with two horses, was purchased, and a wagon 
 with four horses was hired, and in these the family 
 proceeded slowly on their way. At Harrisburg, 
 enn., a heavy fall of snow delayed the travellers for 
 some days, and at Clark's Ferry, on the Susque- 
 hanna, the owner of the hired wagon refused to 
 proceed further. The most necessary articles of
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 3 
 
 baggage were put into the light wagon, and my 
 brother and three elder sisters had to walk the re- 
 mainder of the journey, over 100 miles. Previous to 
 this time, my mother had taught me to read, and for 
 three succeeding winters I was sent to school the 
 whole not exceeding ten months. With these oppor- 
 tunities, I learned writing, spelling, arithmetic, and 
 some knowledge of bookkeeping. The business of 
 farming was new to my father, and my brother, seven 
 years older than myself, was a total stranger to every 
 kind of labor. My father's funds were all expended 
 on the journey and in the purchase of the farm, 
 which was but partially improved, and much of it 
 stony and difficult of cultivation. Under these dis- 
 advantages, for several years, many were the difficul- 
 ties incident to our situation. 
 
 In my thirteenth year I was strong and large for 
 my age, and the work of the farm was no trouble to 
 me. The next year I was a young man, in appear- 
 ance at least, and able to "make a hand," as it was 
 called, in the harvest-field, and, indeed, in most 
 of the work of the farm. During eight years that we 
 remained in Huntingdon County, my opportunities 
 of improvement were very limited. My father had a 
 few books, all of which I read with care, and some of 
 them twice over. Among them was perhaps the first 
 edition of Morse's Geography, in two large volumes, 
 8vo. With this I was greatly delighted, and spent 
 many a long winter evening in its careful perusal. 
 With the historical books of the Bible I was well 
 acquainted, but I had very little taste for the New 
 Testament Scriptures. 
 
 In my fifteenth year I took up a book in a neigh-
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 bour's house, merely to see what it was. The first 
 words I read, were : 
 
 "All night the dreadless angel, nnperceived, 
 Through heaven's wide champlain held his way till morn." 
 
 I was literally charmed with the work, and forgot 
 that I had only come on an errand, till the owner 
 kindly told me to take it home. This inimitable 
 poem of Milton's was perused and reperused till I 
 could recite large portions of it from memory. The 
 same summer I first saw the "Pilgrim's Progress" 
 and the "Holy War," which also greatly delighted 
 me. Again and again since that time have I read all 
 these invaluable and original works. 
 
 In the year 1798 my father went to the western 
 part of the State to view the country. Next year he 
 sold his small farm in Huntingdon county, and made 
 a purchase near the Alleghany River, in the north- 
 east corner of Butler county. I pass over various 
 hardships, experienced in removing his large family 
 and making a settlement with his limited means in a 
 new country. Several journeys had to be made a dis- 
 tance of about two hundred miles, and across the 
 Alleghany Mountains, in order that the cabin on the 
 new farm might be enlarged, the summer crop raised, 
 and the fall grain sowed. In the last of these journeys, 
 my parents and youngest sister, then an infant, were on 
 horseback, and I was on foot, with the care of fifteen 
 sheep and twenty-four hogs. The slow progress we 
 made induced me, when half the journey was made, 
 to insist that they should go on without me, and I 
 would follow as the flock could stand the travel. 
 With much reluctance they complied, and on the 9th
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 5 
 
 of December, after crossing the Laurel Hill, they 
 left me. My difficulties commenced next day, in 
 crossing Blacklock, a branch of the Conemaugh, on 
 which there was neither bridge nor ferry-boat. I was 
 obliged to wade the stream three times before I could 
 get the flock over. This small river was twenty-live 
 or thirty yards wide, and between two and three feet 
 deep. The weather was excessively cold ; in a few 
 minutes my wet clothes were frozen, and it was two 
 hours before I could reach a house of entertainment. 
 On the evening of the 12th I reached a tavern, five 
 miles from the Alleghany river. Early the next day 
 a severe fall of snow commenced, accompanied with 
 high and cold wind. With all the exercise necessary 
 to keep the flock together, I could with difficulty 
 keep myself warm, and it seemed sometimes that I 
 must perish before reaching the river. When I came 
 there, nothing could be seen but the snow, driven in 
 every direction by the wind. The ferry-boat was on 
 the other side of the river, and, to my repeated calls, 
 an answer was at last returned, that, until the storm 
 ceased, they would not venture to cross the river. I 
 was now cold and much wearied ; the nearest house 
 was five miles distant, and, in my chilled and ex- 
 hausted condition, it was impossible in such a storm 
 to travel back those long and weary miles. The 
 snow was now twelve inches deep, much drifted in 
 places, and still increasing. The flock was aban- 
 doned to itself, for death now seemed to look me 
 in the face. In this cheerless state I determined 
 to make one more effort to warm myself, by running 
 on the bank. Whilst thus engaged, during a slight 
 lull in the storm, I discovered a small cabin a short
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 distance from me on the opposite side of a ravine, 
 where I found an Irish family sitting beside a good 
 fire. Their hospitality was extended to me with a 
 cordial welcome, and the best refreshments of their 
 frugal board were set before me. Having obtained 
 this asylum for myself, my poor flock was next to be 
 cared for. My host went with me, and with some 
 difficulty we placed it in a small field, the only 
 one he had. In the evening the snow ceased falling, 
 but the river was so full of broken ice, that to cross 
 was impossible. In the meantime my parents had 
 reached home, thirty miles distant, but the storm 
 had filled them with great anxiety on my account. 
 My brother was sent to meet me, and came to the 
 west side of the river, while I was detained on the 
 east. Two days afterwards, with much difficulty and 
 danger, we got the whole flock over in canoes. My 
 kind host was fully compensated, and with many 
 thanks. I felt, indeed, greatly indebted to him, and 
 long afterwards it was in my power to show his sur- 
 viving partner that I had not forgotten their kind- 
 ness, by aiding in procuring for her a pension, after 
 the death of her husband, while serving as a volun- 
 teer in the War of 1812. 
 
 For the next three years, few incidents occurred 
 worth relating. My brother, having received a severe 
 injury from the falling of a tree, which unfitted him 
 for the time for labor, went to New York, and for 
 some time taught school there and in New Jersey. 
 The labor of opening and clearing the farm, and of 
 carrying it on, then devolved almost entirely upon 
 me. Work, to me, was no trouble. My days were 
 cheerful, and my sleep sound at night. My father
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 7 
 
 was an industrious, careful man; all Ms expenditures 
 were on the principles of strict economy. The fields 
 were productive, and the hand of diligence brought 
 plenty and abundance around his peaceful dwelling. 
 
 In the summer of 1802 we built a sawmill, and in 
 the winter I sawed lumber to the amount of one hun- 
 dred dollars, but did not get the raft to Pittsburg, 
 60 miles distant, the only market, until the next 
 Fall. 
 
 For nearly three years there was no preaching in 
 our neighborhood, nor indeed between Pittsburg and 
 Erie, about 120 miles ; except on a few missionary 
 tours, in parts of this region, by ministers from the 
 older parts of the country. In 1802 the Rev.Wm. 
 Morehead, licentiate preacher of the Presbytery of 
 Bedstone, spent the summer in this destitute coun- 
 try, preaching three or four times a week in private 
 houses, or barns, or in the open air, in places ten or 
 fifteen miles distant from each other. In our neigh- 
 bourhood, and indeed wherever he went, his preaching 
 made a decided impression. He died December, 
 1802. In this and the next year, twelve Presbyterian 
 preachers, mostly licentiates, and mostly young men, 
 were settled in the northwestern counties of Penn- 
 sylvania, and a few of the adjoining counties of Ohio. 
 Most of them had studied divinity with the Rev. 
 John McMillen, D. D., of Cannonsburg, Penna. 
 They were zealous, earnest, and, most of them, pop- 
 ular preachers ; their coming was a great blessing to 
 this large and destitute field of work. 
 
 In 1803 various rumors and reports reached us of 
 revivals of religion in Kentucky and other places, ac- 
 companied with most extraordinary bodily exercises.
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 This work was brought to our neighbourhood in the 
 summer, when I saw it for the first time. The sub- 
 ject was a young woman, an acquaintance of one of 
 my sisters, to whose home I had come on a visit the 
 day before. On seeing it I was very much surprised, 
 but perfectly at a loss to account for such involun- 
 tary agitation. It continued during the whole of the 
 sermon. Nor was I inattentive to the words of the 
 preacher, the Rev. Robert Lea. He spoke with great 
 earnestness and solemnity, and every word seemed to 
 reach my heart. There was left a deep impression 
 that I was indeed a sinner in the sight of God. We 
 had regular preaching at home every alternate Sab- 
 bath, and every sermon deepened my distress of 
 mind. Every evening, after service, our pastor, the 
 Rev. Robert Johnston, had a prayer-meeting at his 
 own house. At one of these meetings the exercises 
 of my mind became extremely painful and distress- 
 ing. Soon after the service had commenced I was 
 struck with this extraordinary influence, as were sev- 
 eral others about the same time. To convey a correct 
 idea of this sensation to others is perhaps impossible. 
 In an instant I felt that the will had no power or control 
 over the muscles of the body. I fell backwards and 
 suffered violent agitations, particularly of the arms, 
 the muscles of the breast, and upper part of the body. 
 There was no sickness, no pain, and the faculties of 
 the mind were not the least obscured ; if any change 
 was felt, it seemed to be in an acuteness of percep- 
 tion, more than usual, as to everything around me. 
 Two of my neighbours immediately raised me, and 
 supported me between them during the evening. 
 When the service was ended, the influence left me,
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 9 
 
 and I walked home with several others, but preferred 
 to be silent rather than to converse with them. For 
 about six weeks the exercises of my mind were pain- 
 ful and often distressing. I then obtained, or thought 
 I obtained, "peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." I know not that further details would pro- 
 mote any good purpose. It may be very satisfactory 
 for a Christian to be able to say: "At such a time 
 and place I was born again." 
 
 I do not doubt but there are such cases. I do not 
 now set so much value on such an ability as I did 
 formerly ; nor do I know that any Christian was ever 
 able to derive much consolation from this kind of 
 knowledge. It is a far clearer point to me, that the 
 follower of Christ Jesus will derive more true comfort 
 from a constant discharge of his duty towards God, 
 and towards man, in the exercises of faith, and under 
 the influence of deep humility, with watchfulness and 
 prayer, than he will derive by looking back to the 
 state of his feelings at the time of his supposed 
 consecration to Christ. It is the duty of the Christian 
 to have his evidences always bright, and when they 
 become otherwise, to seek again the highway from 
 which he has departed. For the soul to take comfort 
 when in a cold and lifeless state, from its former 
 experience, is a comfort not free from danger, and 
 not, at least very clearly, indicated in the word of 
 God. Had David quieted his fears, after the murder 
 of Uriah, by referring to his former experience, had 
 he even taken comfort to himself, from the near and 
 intimate communion with God, he had often experi- 
 enced, we are warranted in saying he would have 
 shown far less evidence of true religion, than does the
 
 10 MEMOIRS Of WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 spirit which breathes in every line of the fifty-first 
 psalm. 
 
 About the time I obtained a hope of an interest 
 in the Saviour, the mysterious influence, which 
 caused the bodily agitation, left me. Nor was I ever 
 subject to it again. In the Fall of the same year I 
 made a profession of religion, and it has been my 
 sincere desire to live agreeably to that profession ; 
 but, alas ! how unfruitful has my life so far been in 
 the eyes of a pure and holy God ! how often have I 
 departed from the way of holiness ! But by His 
 grace I remain unto this day, and His grace is still 
 able to sustain me to the close of life, and give me an 
 abundant entrance to the inheritance of the saints in 
 light. 
 
 I may add here a few lines in reference to the 
 strange bodily exercise which at that period was so 
 very general. My knowledge in regard to it, in our 
 own church, and in those adjacent, was minute and 
 exhaustive. Being myself a subject of it, there was 
 no reserve in conversing with others under the same 
 influence. Much was said and written on both sides 
 of the question, some contending that it was the work 
 of God, and others that it was the work of the devil ; 
 the first were too sanguine in their expectations of 
 good in the results which were to follow ; the last 
 made a great mistake by condemning the whole work 
 in advance without waiting to try it by its fruits. 
 Among all the individuals with whom I conversed, 
 not one was found, that in a greater or less degree, 
 had not a personal conviction of sin. If this fact be 
 admitted, it will follow, that up to this point, it was 
 a work of the Spirit of God. With many, however,
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 11 
 
 the conviction was very slight, and continued but a 
 short time. Some, whose convictions were deep and 
 distressing, were freed also from their distress, and 
 returning to their former careless course, gave sad 
 evidence, by their increased love of worldly pleasure, 
 how little advantage they had derived from their 
 previous exercises of mind. A few became in a short 
 time more openly profane than at any former period 
 of their lives. But others, consisting of a large num- 
 ber, from the age of twelve up to seventy years, by a 
 Christian walk and conversation, have given evidence 
 of true piety. There is no doubt that, in the excite- 
 ment which influenced so many minds at once, there 
 were many false hopes and expectations, founded 
 on anything but the sure word of unerring truth. 
 These are perhaps attendant more or less on every 
 general revival of religion. When the wheat is sown, 
 then cometh the enemy and soweth tares. Speaking 
 of the work as a whole, I have no difficulty in calling 
 it a revival of religion, and such a one as every Chris- 
 tian should rejoice to see, although attended with 
 circumstances which induced many who did not, and 
 who would not, examine it, to preach and to pray 
 against it. 
 
 Soon after my mind was relieved from the distress 
 and pressure under which I labored, I felt a strong 
 desire to study for the ministry. For some time this 
 feeling was confined to myself, but, being able to think 
 of nothing else, I made known the state of my mind 
 to my father. He did not discourage me, but pointed 
 out the difficulties which lay in the way of my educa- 
 tion. He had it not in his power to assist me ; on the 
 contrary, he needed my assistance at home. Deep
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 and anxious were my reflections on this subject, but 
 the way was dark, and difficulties, apparently insur- 
 mountable, presented themselves on every side. In 
 the month of December the river rose, and I took the 
 boards, previously sawed, to Pittsburg. I found a 
 ready market, and, in the manufacture and sale of 
 this article, I saw the possibility of procuring means 
 to prosecute my studies, and I returned home with 
 the settled determination, of devoting my whole atten- 
 tion to that one object. In the first place, I saw that 
 it was necessary to assist in making such arrange- 
 ments for my father as would make his family com- 
 fortable ; and it was determined to build a grist mill. 
 My brother had previously returned from New Jersey, 
 and, with some assistance from a millwright, he under- 
 took that part of the work. Building the mill-house, 
 farming, and preparing more boards for market, was 
 the work assigned to me for the year. All my exer- 
 tions for that period were intended chiefly for the 
 benefit of my father ; he had given me 150 acres for a 
 farm, poor indeed, and unimproved, but I expected 
 it would sell for something, and with other means 
 assist me in the pursuit of knowledge. The sum- 
 mer of 1804 was passing away, and in August it be- 
 came evident that the grist mill could not be fin- 
 ished before the new year. This was a discouraging 
 consideration, as I was extremely anxious to com- 
 mence the Latin grammar in October. In the begin- 
 ning of September I was attacked with a severe sick- 
 ness. 
 
 Returning home on foot, night overtook me when 
 I had four miles to travel. The road, which was only 
 a path, lay through a forest, and the night being 
 quite dark, I soon lost it. After seeking in vain to
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 find the path, I lay down at the root of a tree, and, 
 being weary, soon fell asleep. A slight rain fell dur- 
 ing the night, and at daylight I found myself faint 
 and cold, and pained with a lightness in my head, 
 never before experienced. I got home early, and 
 assisted in bringing in the last of our harvest. In the 
 afternoon I was attacked with an intermittent fever, 
 so violent that in three days there was no hope of my 
 recovery. On the fifth day I was too weak to speak, 
 though quite sensible to everything around me. On 
 the evening of the sixth day, about midnight, I be- 
 lieved I was dying, and for an hour I could not tell 
 whether the pains of death were not already passed. 
 This was the crisis of the disease. About two o'clock I 
 fell asleep, and in the morning was evidently better. 
 During the first two days I felt much peace of mind, 
 although the sickness was known to be very serious. 
 But when hope was given up, I had many serious 
 conflicts. My father conversed freely with me, and 
 suggested many precious thoughts, which gave me 
 strength and comfort. Still, I felt that it was indeed 
 a solemn thing to die. After the favorable crisis, my 
 health and strength gradually returned. My sick- 
 ness had much delayed the work we had on hand ; 
 it was now October, and much remained to be done. 
 My father thought he could succeed without further 
 assistance from me, and that it was now proper for 
 me to turn my attention to my own pursuits. On the 
 8th of October, 1804, with the blessing of both my 
 parents, I left their peaceful abode ; the tears of my 
 beloved mother flowed in abundance, while she 
 prayed that the peace of the living God might rest 
 upon me. For more than a year I had longed for the 
 time when I could commence the rudiments of an
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 education, but now, when that time had arrived, I 
 felt a pain and reluctance in leaving my parents 
 which I had not anticipated. The prospect before 
 me was well calculated to induce discouragement. 
 Near the age of twenty years, I was about to begin a 
 long course of study without one dollar, and without 
 the means of procuring any, except by the hard and 
 laborious process of sawing boards, and taking them 
 one hundred miles, by the river, to market. It was 
 uncertain whether, without my assistance, my father 
 could finish his mill ; and, without it, the family 
 could not subsist in comfort. 
 
 With these feelings, I commenced the study of the 
 Latin Grammar with the Rev. Robert Johnston, who 
 resided six miles from my father's. Two young men, 
 my neighbors, Mr. Redick, and Mr. Crawford, had 
 commenced with him a month before, and, by intense 
 application, I was soon placed in the same class with 
 them. 
 
 I remained four weeks with Mr. Johnston, and dur- 
 ing that time my health and strength were perfectly 
 restored. Every Saturday I returned home and stayed 
 till Monday. On viewing the situation of my father, 
 I was convinced that it was my duty to return home, 
 and assist in placing him in more comfortable circum- 
 stances. During the winter we finished the mill, and 
 in the spring, I took $100 worth of lumber to market. 
 The most of the sum was expended in necessaries for 
 the family, a small part of it in clothing and books 
 for myself. On the 1st of May, I again returned to 
 Mr. Johnston, where Messrs. Redick and Crawford 
 still remained. They were now far before me, but I 
 hoped to overtake them before winter. Their cir- 
 cumstances, however, enabled them to go to an excel-
 
 A UTOBIOGRAPHY. 1 5 
 
 lent academy in Beaver County, and I was soon left to 
 pursue my studies alone. The ministerial labors of 
 two congregations, twelve miles apart, necessarily 
 obliged Mr. Johnston to be much from home. My 
 situation for improvement, therefore, was not very 
 favorable. In these circumstances it seemed best that 
 I should, if possible, go to the Rev. John McPherrin 
 who was a finished scholar, and already had much ex- 
 perience in teaching the classics in Westmoreland 
 County, where he formerly resided. In July I went 
 to see him, and made known my situation and wishes 
 to him without reserve or concealment. My situation 
 interested him, and he expressed his willingness to 
 take charge of my education. It was necessary, how- 
 ever, that I should build a cabin, in which I could 
 have my books and my bed, as his family was large, 
 and his house too small for themselves. It was 
 now the 1st of August, and before I could take up 
 my books, I had my cabin to build, and by some 
 means liquidate my account with Mr. Johnston, and 
 also provide some clothing for the winter. I, there- 
 fore, returned home and wrought thirty days for a 
 neighbour at fifty cents a day, and then cut as many 
 saw logs as, when sawed and taken to market, would 
 pay my boarding, and expenses for the next winter. 
 In October I built a neat cabin of logs, twelve feet 
 square, with a chimney in one end, built of cat and clay. 
 This was finished early in November, and I returned 
 home, seventeen miles distant, to assist my father in 
 building a fire-house over the water-wheel of the mill. 
 It was with great reluctance he received my assist- 
 ance as the time was past when I expected to have 
 been at my books, but the necessity of the measure 
 was urgent because, without it, the mill would have
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 been impeded by the frost for the greater part of the 
 winter. On the 19th of November, 1805, we had the 
 house completed, and next day I once more bade adieu 
 to my parents, and early the same day reached Mr. 
 McPherrin's, where I was cordially received. 
 
 I had now resumed my studies, with better hopes 
 and prospects than at any time heretofore, and the 
 most unremitting attention and diligence were be- 
 stowed upon my books. I went to bed between ten 
 and eleven, and always rose at four in the morning. 
 At five Mr. McPherrin came to hear me recite. In 
 the winter this was long before day, but he was 
 always in the habit of rising at five o'clock. Except- 
 ing at breakfast and family prayers, I was not seen 
 out of my study-house until dinner-time, about one 
 o'clock. I then, for two hours, assisted the boys in 
 their work, of which providing firewood was the 
 principal part. I had then the evening undisturbed 
 until ten o'clock. In a large log house, such as the 
 family occupied, it was necessary in the winter to 
 keep a large fire burning day and night, and hence 
 the consumption of fuel was very great. Every 
 Saturday afternoon I assisted them in hauling from 
 the fields a stock for the ensuing week. In working 
 in wood I had acquired a good degree of skill, and I 
 could do many things that would have required a 
 carpenter. I was scarcely a moment unemployed, 
 and was glad to be useful, and performed these serv- 
 ices most cheerfully; and as the farm was unim- 
 proved, and the barn and outbuildings were out of 
 order, many repairs were needed. Out of doors Mr. 
 McPherrin was often with me, and treated me with 
 the utmost kindness and regard. Many clergymen in 
 passing staid a night with us, and generally shared
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 17 
 
 a part of my bed. One of these mentioned my pre- 
 ceptor's warm satisfaction with my progress in study. 
 By this time I was fully satisfied that with diligence 
 and perseverance I could master these three languages 
 the Latin, Greek and Hebrew without further in- 
 struction. The months of April and May, 1807, found 
 me again engaged at the sawmill. This I intended 
 to be the last work of the kind, because the labor was 
 so severe, I feared its effects on my constitution. 
 The proceeds, after paying all my debts, left me forty 
 dollars, which I gave to my father. On my return 
 through Butler, I made arrangements to take up an 
 English school there. On the 17th of June, 1807, I 
 took leave of Mr. McPherrin and his amiable family, 
 and, without money, with only a few books and a 
 few clothes, took up my residence in Butler, intend- 
 ing to sojourn there for a year. 
 
 My school consisted of forty scholars, all learning 
 the common branches of an English education. The 
 tuition was six dollars per annum each, while my 
 boarding and washing cost me one hundred dollars. 
 I had, however, nearly the half of the day to myself, 
 and I found the teaching to be more like recreation 
 than labour. I soon got the good will of my pupils. 
 They were of both sexes, and some of them were 
 young men and young women. I became much inter- 
 ested in them, and their parents were quite satisfied 
 with their improvement. I found no difficulty, and 
 indeed not much hindrance in the study of Latin and 
 Greek, but for want of Hebrew books no progress 
 was then made in that language. In October, unso- 
 licited, I received the appointment of Clerk to the 
 County Commissioners, at a salary of eighty dollars 
 a year, these oflicers kindly permitting me to be
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 absent during school hours on condition that I would 
 bring up the business in the evening. 
 
 The preceding autobiographical narrative was 
 written in the winter of 1824-25. With omissions, it 
 is now printed, as giving information concerning the 
 life and character treated of in this volume. 
 
 The school in Butler did not imply that the call to 
 the ministry had been laid aside. It was as yet in 
 its earlier stages, a strong desire, a purpose, if it were 
 the will of the Lord; but not as yet so far settled as 
 to be brought to the consideration of the Presbytery 
 according to the usual rule. Providential circum- 
 stances led to some delay. 
 
 Afterwards it became evident that other lines of 
 duty required attention, leading to public service as 
 a layman, and later still to his long life-work as 
 hereinafter related. 
 
 Several months after taking charge of the school, 
 January 14, 1808, he was married to Miss Amelia 
 McPherrin, daughter of the Rev. John and Mrs. Mary 
 McPherrin, of Butler County, Penna. 
 
 In 1808 Mr. and Mrs. Lowrie made their home in 
 Butler, the chief town of Butler County, Penna. It 
 was then a small but pleasant village of a few hun- 
 dred inhabitants ; now it is one of the important 
 towns of the State. Besides his school and the Com- 
 missioners' clerkship, opportunities of surveying 
 lands, and of aiding to settle land titles and claims, were 
 available at first in a limited degree the country 
 was newly inhabited. Proprietors of large sections 
 of land lived in the eastern parts of the State ; new 
 settlers, as farmers and as tenants, were coming into
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 19 
 
 the western counties ; a thorough knowledge of " land 
 questions," coupled with growing reputation for 
 integrity, ability, energy and sympathy, were good 
 conditions of success in business life. The sterling 
 character of his venerable father, a farmer and mill- 
 owner, and an honoured elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church, contributed not a little to his son's being 
 welcomed in his plans of self-support. To these good 
 conditions may well be added the lovely character 
 and grace of his wife, known to many as the daughter 
 of an admirable mother and of the most eminent 
 clergyman in the county. Referring to public life, it 
 was no doubt the growing acquaintance of the young 
 teacher with the farming people and their interests 
 in the northwestern counties, that led largely to his 
 election in 1811 as a member of the Pennsylvania 
 Legislature in the House of Representatives one 
 year, and in the Senate six years. In 1818, while still 
 in the Senate, he was elected as a member of the 
 United States Senate, full term.
 
 IN PUBLIC OR CIVIC LIFE. 
 
 IT is the plan of this book to give but brief ac- 
 counts of public or civic affairs in which Mr. Lowrie 
 was now engaged. These are accessible in the Jour- 
 nals or Minutes of the two Legislatures and in the 
 newspaper reports of their proceedings. General in- 
 terest in most of those subjects has long since passed 
 away. Yet the earlier years of the century, now near 
 its end, were largely the formative period of the great 
 central west of our country, extending from the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains in Pennsylvania westward. It was 
 of the greatest importance that both the State and 
 the National councils should contain members well 
 acquainted with all matters of public interest. And 
 many of them were such men in a high degree. 
 
 In Western Pennsylvania, with special enactments 
 of the Legislature cordially granted, the subjects of 
 Land Titles and Taxation, Public Roads, Navigation 
 of Rivers, Common Schools, Colleges, etc., received 
 almost special favour from the State. Among other 
 things, an unusual Commission was organized, consist- 
 ing of a State member from each of five States : Penn- 
 sylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, of 
 which Mr. Lowrie was chairman. The Commission em- 
 ployed a sufficient number of qualified agents and 
 labourers, to survey the Ohio river, from Pittsburgh to 
 Louisville, some 700 miles ; and to remove obstacles to 
 its better navigation, so far as practicable. Each of 
 these States was in a more or less degree favorable to 
 this object, owing to its own borders on this river. 
 It was a measure that required skillful and difficult
 
 IN PUBLIC LIFE. 21 
 
 labour and much fatigue, for several months, and 
 considerable expense ; but it was one of far-seeing 
 wisdom and great benefit not only to the five States, 
 but to other large sections of the country, west, 
 northwest and southwest. 
 
 Later "improvements" have, no doubt, since been 
 made ; but these showed a wise energy and forecast 
 for that- early day. And to the Ohio, or "Beautiful 
 River," as the Indians called it, may now be added the 
 great commercial value of its chief aifluents, the Alle- 
 ghany and the Monongahela, besides its lesser tribu- 
 taries. Few systems of river navigation combine use- 
 fulness and beauty to so great a degree. 
 
 FROM A STATE TO THE NATIONAL SENATE. 
 
 IN the change from Harrisburg to Washington, 
 Mr. Lowrie found his duties similar in some respects, 
 but quite different in others. In the former, the State 
 and its local interests chiefly occupied his attention ; 
 in the latter, broader, more varied, national and 
 foreign, as well as home, matters required careful 
 study. The members of the National Senate, more- 
 over, had been brought up in different parts of the 
 country, and in differing family and social circum- 
 stances ; but in cases not a few the home training, 
 education, social and religious life of the senators had 
 been very similar. They were all proud of their 
 national history, and full of hope as to the future. 
 They were Americans, all. It was no doubt an advan- 
 tage to the member from Pennsylvania that he had 
 been a member of its Senate. Much depends on prac- 
 tical experience in the dispatch of legislative busi- 
 ness. The business itself, its bearings, progress and
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 results need to be well considered in the light of gen- 
 eral principles and previous knowledge. Of course, 
 fairness, courtesy, kindness in brief, the observance 
 of the Golden Rule should mark the personal inter- 
 course of the members of a legislative assembly, and 
 greatly influence their public action. 
 
 At Washington many subjects required the con- 
 sideration of the Upper House. Some of them were 
 matters of routine, such as the confirmation of ap- 
 pointments to public office ; even these were often of 
 great moment. Some of these subjects were peculiar 
 to our country, such as the organization of Territories 
 on the frontier, and the admission of new States to 
 the Union. Others were the national finances, public 
 lands, Indian affairs, foreign commerce, and many 
 more. In 1819-23 slavery or anti-slavery in the Terri- 
 tories became a very urgent subject, growing out of 
 the application of settlers in the Territory of Missouri 
 to be received into the Union as a slaveholding State. 
 Most, if not all, of the Southern States contended for 
 the right of holding slaves in a Territory, and as a 
 State. This was strongly opposed by the Northern 
 States. The discussion of the subject in both Houses 
 of Congress was long, earnest, and at times ominous 
 of " the breaking up of the Union." In these discus- 
 sions, as a member representing one of the central 
 border States, and having clear convictions of what 
 was right in itself, as well as best for the country, Mr. 
 Lowrie could not but take a decided part adverse to 
 the extension of slaveholding. But, known as a man 
 of firm, yet not aggressive nor partisan, views, and 
 being on good terms socially with his fellow mem- 
 bers, his influence would be recognized as not un- 
 friendly, while yet as sure to be exerted in favour of
 
 IN PUBLIC LIFE. 23 
 
 liberty. The so-called "Missouri Compromise" 
 ended the discussions of 1820. He had actively sup- 
 ported what he conscientiously considered the right 
 side of the subject; and he closed one of his speeches, 
 after expressing deep regret at the troubled outlook 
 as to the dissolution of the Union by saying: "If the 
 alternative be this: either dissolution of the Union, 
 or the extension of slavery over this whole western 
 country, I for one will choose the former." 
 
 On Standing Committees it is interesting to note 
 that of the Committee of Finance, evidently one of 
 the most important, Mr. Lowrie was a member for six 
 years; on Public Lands, six years; on Indian Affairs, 
 one year; besides others. A reader of the Senate's 
 proceedings, in the official and newspaper reports, 
 would seldom find that he made long speeches, though 
 in some instances they were quite extended, and 
 always worthy of their subjects. Brief remarks by 
 him were common, attractive, always appropriate. 
 Evidently he gave close attention to the business in 
 hand, and as a rule he was always in his place. He 
 was on kind terms with all, so far as was known, and 
 was on intimate terms of friendship with several 
 members some of them those best known to the 
 country, including several from southern and western 
 States. His own judgment was that the Senate in- 
 cluded in its membership many of the best men, as to 
 character, ability, and all qualifications needful to 
 secure the highest confidence of their neighbours at 
 home and their countrymen at large. 
 
 One of his constituents in Pennsylvania wrote to 
 him, about this time, asking the favour of his recom- 
 mendation to the President for an appointment to 
 some office. Most members of Congress are burdened
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 with requests of this same kind. On mentioning the 
 case, without urging it, the President, in reply, read 
 to him a letter which he had received from a distin- 
 guished general, counselling him to adopt the policy 
 of making official appointments from both the leading 
 political parties of the country. Eventually this 
 counsel became known to the public, and was criti- 
 cised after the general had become a candidate for a 
 high office. The President was then inquired of in 
 regard to the letter ; but he had no recollection of it 
 virtually a denial of having received such a letter. 
 The general did not remember having written it. He 
 was not then in public life, and might easily have for- 
 gotten it. The subject was taken up by the party 
 newspapers. The senator was violently criticised for 
 reporting that such a letter had been received, when 
 the President knew nothing of it ; and although he 
 had taken little interest in the case, his name was not 
 the less denounced. 
 
 But it had so happened that the President had 
 read the same letter to at least two of the senators, 
 both from Pennsylvania one of them, Mr. Lacock, 
 the other, Mr. Roberts, both of them gentlemen of 
 the highest character and standing. All three con- 
 curred in their statements of the facts of the case 
 the two ex-senators unqualifiedly; and also that no- 
 thing whatever was said by the President of any letter 
 as being intended for private use. These statements 
 were made public at that time. 
 
 This case was doubtless well understood by the 
 members of the U. S. Senate ; and most of them, prob- 
 ably all of them, were aware that Mr. Lowrie would not 
 return to Washington as a senator ; and also that he 
 was not a candidate for any office. The office of secre-
 
 IN PUBLIC LIFE. 25 
 
 tary of the Senate, then almost an office for life, was 
 soon to become vacant. It was then an office which 
 required its incumbent to possess qualifications in most 
 respects similar to those of the senators themselves, 
 and to be efficient and trustworthy in the highest de- 
 gree. To this office he was elected by a large vote of 
 the Senate, December 25, 1825. This office was ac- 
 cepted, and its duties immediately entered upon. It 
 was not an office that involved frequent and painful 
 separations from his family. Washington City be- 
 came chiefly their home ; though they spent their 
 summer months at their former residence in Butler. 
 
 COLONIZATION SOCIETY CHINESE LANGUAGE. 
 
 While in Washington Mr. Lowrie became a mem- 
 ber of the Executive Committee of the American 
 Colonization Society ; which he favoured with his pen, 
 his counsels and other services. A weekly meeting 
 for prayer was held at his house during sessions of 
 Congress, which was welcomed by some of the mem- 
 bers of different religious denominations, and re- 
 garded with real interest. There also a Congressional 
 Temperance Society was organized. 
 
 His linguistic talents were somewhat remarkable. 
 The Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages were prob- 
 ably better known by him than by many clergymen. 
 When about forty years of age, he took up the 
 Chinese language, in addition to his previous engage- 
 ments ; and in a few years he had made such progress 
 in this peculiar language, as to make translations of 
 the simpler Chinese works. The knowledge thus 
 acquired was, of course, imperfect, but it became 
 practically important afterwards, as enabling him to
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 appreciate the method of printing Chinese books on 
 divisible metallic types, instead of the carved solid 
 wooden blocks, engraved. The remarkably conserva- 
 tive Chinese do not yet generally adopt this new and 
 great invention, adhering to their old customs ; but 
 the new method is in practical use on a large scale. 
 It is already employed largely in printing stereotype 
 editions of the Holy Scriptures and other books in 
 Chinese. Further particulars may be found in Dr. 
 Green's Presbyterian Missions, page 178. 
 
 CARE FOR AGED PARENTS. 
 
 In the town of Butler, an elder brother of Mr. 
 Lowrie, a prominent citizen of Pittsburgh, united 
 with him in opening a store for miscellaneous goods, 
 providing the capital for it, and engaging for its man- 
 agement a well-qualified agent. It was kept up for 
 some years with satisfactory success, and then dis- 
 posed of without loss neither of the proprietors hav- 
 ing sufficient time at command to meet its require- 
 ments. 
 
 One of their objects was to make a home for their 
 now aged parents, whose large family of sons and 
 daughters had all been married and settled in homes 
 of their own, hardly any of them near the old home- 
 stead. For the venerable parents a pleasant cottage 
 had been built by the younger brother on his own 
 ground in the village, not far from the store ; and 
 occupation was given to his still vigorous mind by 
 having a certain charge of its business. The editor 
 of this memoir, then a student in the Academy, was 
 also assigned to the store for a few hours daily, 
 chiefly as 'company' for his revered grandfather.
 
 ZZV PUBLIC LIFE. 27 
 
 It was probably of much greater benefi to the grand- 
 son than to his aged relative, whose wise and kind 
 counsels were invaluable ; though the opportunity 
 of gaining some knowledge of business matters was 
 prized. At first the grandparents were delighted 
 with these arrangements ; but after trial of village 
 life, they became weary of it, and longed for a home 
 again in the country. Their sons then obtained for 
 them an excellent home in the family of a widowed 
 daughter, their beloved sister, where the aged parents 
 spent their remaining years in comfort, enjoying the 
 blessedness of the righteous. He died at the age of 
 ninety- three ; his wife, a few years earlier. He was a 
 thoroughly good and upright man, and was held in 
 great regard by all who knew him. His wife was 
 always a benediction to him and to their children 
 and grandchildren. She was lovely and greatly 
 beloved.
 
 FAMILY LIFE. 
 
 DECLINING RE-ELECTION AS A 8ENATOE. 
 
 FOB eighteen years the absence of Mr. Lowrie from 
 his home and family in the winter months had been 
 the trial of their life. In those days a two weeks' jour- 
 ney, on horseback each way, was required for a visit 
 to his family in the holidays, involving too long an 
 absence from official duty, besides expense and fatigue. 
 The latter were but minor matters compared with 
 the claims of his wife and children. No man was 
 ever more attached to his family and home. His wife 
 had given a very reluctant consent to these winter 
 separations, and with health becoming delicate, and 
 a growing family, mostly of boys, it seemed evident 
 that an entire change must be made. His declining 
 to be a candidate for re-election was the decision. He 
 could otherwise be well employed, without being so 
 much separated from his beloved family. The path 
 of duty seemed to be plain. His intended withdrawal 
 from public service became known, in 1824, to his 
 friends, and was a matter all settled. 
 
 DEATH OF MRS. LOWRIE. 
 
 In 1832, November 5th, after twenty-four years of 
 married life, Mr. Lowrie met with his greatest sorrow 
 and loss the death of his wife. She was the mother 
 of their eight children ; a woman greatly beloved in
 
 FAMILY LIFE. 29 
 
 her own family, and by a large number of relatives 
 and neighbors. She died at Bedford, Penna., on her 
 journey to Washington with her husband and 
 younger children; but her funeral and interment were 
 from her home in Butler the following winter, at- 
 tended by all the people of the town, the rich and 
 poor alike. Lovely and loving, genial, discreet, de- 
 voted to our Saviour and His service, abounding in 
 works of charity, visiting the poorest with her sympa- 
 thizing ministry and her prayers ; in the midst of the 
 usually allotted years of life, in the centre of her own 
 loving home, she yet had "a desire to depart and to 
 be with Christ, for it is very far better." This 
 bereavement was followed in a few months by her 
 eldest son and his wife leaving for India as mission- 
 aries, towards which her sympathies and her prayers 
 had no doubt great influence, though she was not 
 spared to see them embark. 
 
 At the farewell religious services in the Arch 
 Street Church, Philadelphia, in the following May, 
 as quoted from a periodical of that city, in 
 June, 1833, her husband, the Hon. Walter Lowrie, 
 who was present at the meeting, was urged by friends 
 to say a few words. " He then referred to the attach- 
 ment which a father might be supposed to feel to- 
 ward a dutiful and affectionate son, an eldest son, and 
 especially toward a son whose piety and self -consecra- 
 tion to the missionary work were associated with the 
 counsels and prayers of the departed wife, the sainted 
 mother, whose eminent Christian graces and attain- 
 ments the occasion seemed so forcibly to recall. But 
 he assured his Christian friends that, though he felt, 
 and felt deeply, at parting with these children, yet, 
 instead of any reluctancy or regret, he could say that
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 he was willing, and even anxious, that they should 
 go ; that if there was any station which he envied, it 
 was that which they were about to assume ; and that 
 he could freely part with every child he had if they 
 were called to leave their native shores on such an 
 errand. . . ." 
 
 "But to give a just summary of these remarks, or 
 an idea of the manner in which they were stated, the 
 effect which they produced upon those who heard 
 them, were utterly impossible. It is sufficient to say 
 of the meeting, taken as a whole, that the God of 
 Missions appeared to have made it a season of unusual 
 and precious enjoyment to many of His people, and 
 one whose whole effect on the cause of missions in 
 future time will not be lost." 
 
 The family of Mr. and Mrs. Lowrie included eight 
 children six sons and two daughters. The eldest 
 son, born December 16, 1808, went to India as a mis- 
 sionary in 1833. His wife died in Calcutta November 
 21, 1833, a few weeks after their arrival. The second 
 son was born April 13, 1811. He was a lawyer. He 
 died February 4, 1836. The first daughter, born 
 June 12, 1814, was married to a merchant of Pitts- 
 burg, and died July 1, 1887. The second daughter 
 was born January 12, 1816, and died September 
 17, 1834. The third son was born February 18, 
 1819, and went to China as a missionary. He was 
 murdered by Chinese pirates, near Ningpo, August 18, 
 1847. The fourth son was born March 16, 1823. He 
 was a lawyer, and an elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church. He was married. He died December 10,
 
 FAMILY LIFE. 31 
 
 1885. The fifth son was born November 24, 1827. He 
 went to China as a missionary with his wife in 1854. 
 He died April 26, 1860. His widow, and their son 
 and daughter, are missionaries in China the daugh- 
 ter married to a medical-missionary from New York. 
 The youngest child, Henry Martyn, was born in 
 Washington City, March 16, 1830, and died in Butler, 
 June 26, 1831. Concerning all those who have 
 departed this life, there was a blessed hope in the 
 death of each one.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 AMONG Mr. Lowrie's papers, under dates of May 
 and September, 1830, has been found a somewhat ex- 
 tended Treatise on Divine Revelation presumably 
 from his pen, originally. The first part of this treatise 
 is here inserted ; the second and larger part may be 
 published hereafter. It may be remembered that he 
 had begun studies for the ministry in his earlier life ; 
 and his reading in subsequent years was founded not 
 a little on his knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures in 
 their languages ; but it does not appear that at any 
 subsequent period of his life he had intended to re- 
 sume his purpose of seeking admission to the sacred 
 office. 
 
 1. Divine Revelation is a discovery made by God to 
 man, of Himself, and of His will, higher and clearer 
 than He has made known by the light of nature, or 
 than man can discover by his unassisted reason. 
 
 2. Divine Revelation is possible. No man, with 
 the use of his reason, can deny the being of a God. A 
 wicked man may wish, in his heart, that there were 
 no God ; but if atheism have an existence, it is but an- 
 other name for insanity. No man can deny or dis- 
 believe that he is himself a thinking being ; he 
 knows that he exists, and that he can act and think ; 
 to doubt the consciousness of his own existence is 
 to establish its reality. He knows, too, that he did 
 not make himself, that he is indebted for his being
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 33 
 
 to Another. As little can any man disbelieve the evi- 
 dence of his senses. He knows that he can see, and 
 and hear, and feel, and taste, and smell the objects 
 around him, according to the respective properties of 
 those objects. But his consciousness and his senses 
 all afford him the highest possible evidence of the ex- 
 istence of a supreme Being, of infinite power, wis- 
 dom and knowledge. This is one degree of revelation, 
 made to man through his senses, and his rational fac- 
 ulties and powers. But if the power of God be infinite, 
 all degrees of power are alike to Him ; and the clear- 
 ness, or the obscurity, of the revelation of Himself, to 
 His creatures, must rest with Himself ; whether it be 
 with the clearness enjoyed by the angels around His 
 throne or the obscurity of man upon earth. 
 
 II. NECESSITY OF A DIVINE EEVELATION. 
 
 3. This subject is embarrassed with some consid- 
 erations which do not properly belong to it. Where 
 there was no Divine Revelation, the darkness was so 
 great that its necessity was but dimly discovered by 
 a few wise and reflecting men. Where Divine Revel- 
 ation has been known for centuries, as among Christ- 
 ian nations, the light is so great, so diffused, so in- 
 corporated with all our thoughts and reflections, that 
 many, using that very light, attempt to prove that 
 it is not necessary. Take, for instance, the character 
 of God, as revealed in the Bible. The sublime des- 
 criptions of the Divine Being, embracing every per- 
 fection and excellence, seem at once to be reasonable, 
 and hence are claimed as the effort of reason, when 
 unassisted reason never did discover, and never could 
 have discovered those perfections.
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 4. With these remarks, let us look at the con- 
 dition of those nations, ancient and modern, which were 
 without the light of Divine Revelation. Through 
 a long course of ages, what has unassisted reason 
 achieved for them ? 
 
 The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were enlight- 
 ened and civilized nations, but without Divine Rev- 
 elation. There we find them grossly ignorant of the 
 most vital and important truths. Their gods were 
 multiplied almost without number. The sun, the 
 moon, and the stars, demons, and departed heroes, 
 animals, noxious insects, and even rivers were their 
 gods. Statues of gold and silver, blocks of wood and 
 of stone, the work of their own hands, were the objects 
 of their idolatry; and human sacrifices, obscenity, 
 prostitution, drunkenness and Bacchanalian revels 
 formed a great part of their stated worship. 
 
 5. They were ignorant of the true account of 
 creation, of God's design in making the world, of 
 the origin of evil, and the original dignity of human 
 nature. Socrates, Cicero, and Seneca, their wisest and 
 best men, doubted even the immortality of the soul. 
 Of the resurrection of the body, they knew nothing. 
 When such men were thus enshrouded in doubt, what 
 must have been the darkness of the mass of the com- 
 mon people ? who on all these points had an equally 
 vital interest. 
 
 6. A future state of rewards and punishments was 
 too little understood to have a proper influence on 
 the conduct. Hence their morals were corrupt, and 
 corresponded with the moral darkness of the mind. 
 It could not be otherwise. Man is a creature actuated 
 by motives. But where was the motive for holiness, 
 for purity of heart and life, when holiness and the
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 35 
 
 worship of the heart was not known ? It is remark- 
 able, also, that the most civilized and the most bar- 
 barous nations were nearly alike in their ignorance 
 of divine things, and in their moral depravity of 
 conduct. 
 
 7. This picture of the nations of antiquity, drawn 
 at large by their own historians, will suit the heathen 
 nations of our own time ; and here, too, moral dark- 
 ness and depravity bring to a level the most civilized 
 and the most barbarous. The Chinese, the Burman, 
 take rank here with the American savage and the 
 inhabitant of benighted Africa. The human sacrifices 
 of New Zealand, the slaughter of his attendants at the 
 death of an African king, the funeral piles of India, 
 and the Car of Juggernaut, proclaim with dying 
 groans the necessity of a Divine Revelation. 
 
 8. That much moral evil exists in the world is in- 
 scribed on every page of its history. At all times, 
 and in all places, the record shows not slight imper- 
 fections only, but crimes which the light of reason 
 strongly condemns. By the universal consent of all 
 nations, man is chargeable with guilt ; and when his 
 conduct and his actions are arraigned, the verdict 
 must be that of guilty. That this is the actual con- 
 dition of mankind cannot be questioned. Now the 
 very nature of guilt involves a liability to, and desert 
 of, just punishment. How, then, can the justice of 
 God be satisfied without the punishment of the 
 guilty? Will He extend mercy and pardon, and 
 remit the punishment which justice requires ? Does 
 not the infinite perfection of His nature require that 
 the glorious attribute of justice be fully satisfied? 
 If mercy can be exercised, is it the will of God that it 
 should be exercised ? And, if so, in what way or on
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 what terms ? All these are questions which unassisted 
 reason never did answer, and never could have an- 
 swered. The more we try to answer them by reason, 
 the more the darkness increases. Do we argue in 
 favour of mercy ? We arraign the justice of the punish- 
 ment. Do we consider the high claims of infinite 
 justice? Then the case of sinful men is hopeless. 
 How are the claims of mercy and justice to be recon- 
 ciled? If infinite wisdom be required to devise a 
 way by which the claims of both are preserved can 
 finite, unassisted reason discover that plan ? And can 
 it also discover that God is willing to execute that 
 plan? It is impossible utterly impossible. Until 
 God reveal these things, the highest created intelli- 
 gences must remain ignorant of them ; and, when 
 revealed, it is no wonder that the angels should desire 
 to look into them. If, therefore, a knowledge of 
 everything dear to man a knowledge of his eternal 
 well-being, a knowledge of the true God, be neces- 
 sary, then is a Divine Revelation necessary. 
 
 III. NEW TESTAMENT GENUINE AND AUTHENIC. 
 
 9. The books of the New Testament contain the his- 
 tory of Jesus Christ, the first propagation of His reli- 
 gion, and the" principles and precepts of Christianity. 
 They are usually printed together, and bound in one 
 volume, and by many are considered as but one book. 
 They consist, however, of the writings of eight differ- 
 ent authors, and of twenty-seven different books, 
 written at different times, and in different parts of the 
 world. 
 
 10. The writers of the New Testament claim to have 
 been cotemporary with Him, whose birth, life, pre-
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 37 
 
 cepts, miracles, death and resurrection they record. 
 They purport to relate what they heard and what they 
 saw. Whatever they have written of Him, of His pre- 
 cepts, of His miracles, or of the spread of His kingdom, 
 either by a direct historical record of facts, or by inci- 
 dental allusion, they have written as eye and ear wit- 
 nesses. "That which they had heard, which they had 
 seen with their eyes, which they had looked upon, 
 and their hands had handled" is claimed by them 
 to have been recorded in the books of the New Testa 
 ment. 
 
 11. These witnesses write with impartiality, so- 
 briety, modesty, and every mark of sincerity. They 
 relate their own mistakes, and record their own 
 follies and their faults. There is no enthusiasm, 
 no exclamations against others, no violence. Their 
 testimony is consistent in all its parts. In no one in- 
 stance is any of them in the least degree inconsistent 
 with himself. With each other there is no contradic- 
 tion, and the variance in minor points, of incidents 
 and circumstances, shews they neither wrote In con- 
 cert nor copied from each other. They gave the 
 highest proof of their sincerity, in sealing their testi- 
 mony by voluntary martyrdom. It is not to be con- 
 ceived that such a number of witnesses would resign 
 their means of support, fortune, character, and life 
 itself for the assertion of what they knew to be false. 
 They at least believed the truth of their testimony, 
 and it only remains to be proved that, if they believed 
 it to be true, they could not be deceived, and that it 
 must be true indeed. 
 
 12. The testimony of these writers did not relate to 
 opinions, nor to abstract points, nor to events distant 
 in time or place ; but to facts which they personally
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 witnessed. By the word of Jesus Christ, they wit- 
 nessed the blind made to see, the lame to walk, the 
 deaf to hear, and the dead to rise from the grave. 
 They heard a Voice from heaven saying, " This is my 
 beloved Son, hear ye Him." They saw this same Jesus 
 nailed to the cross, they saw His side pierced 
 with a spear, and blood and water flowing from the 
 wound, and they saw Him laid in the tomb. After 
 three days He shewed himself openly to them, he ate 
 and drank in their presence, and conversed with them 
 for the space of forty days. He reproved their un- 
 belief, and required them to handle Him and see that 
 it was indeed Himself. He called on Thomas in the 
 presence of the others, to put his fingers into the prints 
 of the nails, and to thrust his hand into His side. 
 Finally He led them out as far as Bethany, and in 
 their sight, and in open day, ascended up into heaven. 
 After His ascension, they themselves, in the name of 
 Jesus of Nazareth, healed the sick, caused the blind 
 to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the 
 dead to arise. These are but a few of the prominent 
 facts recorded in their testimony ; and in these facts 
 they could not possibly be deceived. In this aspect 
 of the argument, the alternative is presented that 
 their testimony is true, or that they sacrificed their 
 time, their good name, their every earthly comfort, 
 and finally their lives, to impose a falsehood on the 
 world. 
 
 13. As these witnesses were not themselves de- 
 ceived, neither could they deceive others. The facts 
 they relate were public, done openly, before men of 
 learning, sagacity and power ; as well as before multi 
 tudes of all other classes. If it were false that " the 
 blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple, and
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 39 
 
 He healed them," could not His bitter and relentless 
 enemies have shown it was a falsehood ? If it were 
 false that Lazarus, after lying four days in the grave, 
 was restored to life, would it not have been more 
 natural for the chief priests to have exposed the 
 falsehood than to have taken counsel to put Him 
 to death ? In all places, and in the most public man- 
 ner, the apostles bear their testimony to the truth of 
 the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and 
 ascended up into heaven. In the Epistle to the Church 
 at Corinth, reference is made to five hundred who 
 had seen Him after the resurrection, most of whom 
 were then living. The miracles which they performed, 
 were all wrought in His name. In the face of the 
 Jewish council, when actually beaten, and threatened 
 with death, they openly state and adhere to this fact, 
 and charge their very judges with His blood. The 
 miracles they wrought in Jerusalem and in all parts of 
 the Roman Empire, and the power they communicated 
 to others of working miracles, were public and known 
 to all. These miracles being recorded in the historical 
 books, and referred to in the various epistles to the 
 diif erent churches, gives us, as will be hereafter fully 
 shown, the testimony of that whole generation to the 
 truth of the facts thus set forth. 
 
 14. The Jews were the most violent opposers and 
 haters of Christianity at its beginning, and have con- 
 tinued to the present day to be its most bitter adver- 
 saries. Had the books of the New Testament been 
 forgeries of the time they claim to have been written, 
 or had they contained falsehoods, the Jews were both 
 able and willing to have detected the imposture. The 
 things recorded, as already stated, were not said to 
 be done in a corner. The scene of many of the trans-
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 actions recorded, and especially of the crucifixion 
 and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was Jerusalem, the 
 metropolis of the nation. The highest civil and eccle- 
 siastical rulers of the Jews are referred to by name 
 as actors and as witnesses. The name of the Roman 
 governor is given, and his actions in the scene, and 
 what he said, are minutely set down. Dates are 
 given, places are designated, officers, men and meas- 
 ures are all described. On the supposition of forgery 
 or falsehood it is unaccountable that these things 
 could have passed without exposure. Nor could 
 these writings have been forgeries of a later period, 
 because the Jews still continued their hatred of 
 Christianity, ever watchful to avail themselves of 
 anything to cast odium on that hated name. 
 
 15. The primitive Christians of Rome, Corinth, 
 Galatia and other places would not have received 
 those writings as genuine if they had been forgeries. 
 In the epistles to these churches the facts recorded in 
 the historical books are taken for granted, and re- 
 ferred to as known to all. The Apostle Paul writes 
 of his previous labours amongst them, He reproves one 
 church for departing from the right way after the 
 miracles they had seen ; he reproves another church 
 for permitting a scandalous incest to remain un- 
 censured ; he speaks of the gift of tongues, and other 
 gifts possessed by some of themselves ; in his epistle 
 to another church he calls over by name twenty-six 
 of its members. Now if these epistles had been for- 
 geries, it was impossible that these churches should 
 have received them as the genuine writings of St. 
 Paul. Deceived on this subject these churches could 
 not be. They knew whether or not he had ever 
 preached among them. The church in Galatia knew
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 41 
 
 whether or not they had seen the miracles to which he 
 referred, and whether or not there was ground for his 
 censures ; the church at Corinth knew whether or not 
 a disgraceful incest had taken place ; and the church 
 at Rome knew whether or not the twenty-six persons 
 named by the apostle were of their community. Yet, 
 with all this knowledge, and many items more which 
 might be detailed in these and other churches to 
 which epistles were written, it is a fact that these 
 very epistles were received by them as genuine and 
 authentic. 
 
 16. Let it be assumed, what indeed needs no proof, 
 that there exist at this day numerous Christian 
 churches in the world ; that these churches have 
 teachers, and rules, and ordinances, and stated times 
 for public worship ; that they all profess to believe 
 that Jesus Christ was the author of this religion ; that 
 He appointed these ordinances and rules and directed 
 them so to meet for public worship ; and that the 
 books in which all these things are recorded claim to 
 have been written by His immediate followers. These 
 things, being assumed or proved, it follows that the 
 present generation did not forge these writings. It is 
 not impossible that books should have been forged in 
 our age, but, on the supposition of such forgery, it is 
 impossible that these books should have been received 
 as genuine by all the Christian churches throughout 
 the world. If these books did not exist till the pres- 
 ent age, how came these Christian churches into ex- 
 istence ? And how came those societies to acknowl- 
 edge, and venerate, and profess to be regulated by, 
 books which did not even exist ? We do know, there- 
 fore, most certainly that the forgery, if it be a forgery, 
 did not take place in our day.
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 It is as impossible, moreover, that a forgery of the 
 kind supposed could have been imposed on the gen- 
 eration immediately preceding the present. They 
 stood as we now stand, with the same means of judging, 
 with the same ability to detect imposture or forgery. 
 Christian churches existed also in their day, and by 
 those churches were these writings received and ven- 
 erated. Now these considerations apply with equal 
 force to each of the sixty generations which have 
 existed since the days of the apostles. 
 
 17. The citizens of the United States are in the 
 habit of celebrating annually the day of the nation's 
 birth. Whilst that celebration continues it is the 
 annual testimony of a whole people to the truth of 
 the fact that on the 4th day of July, 1776, the Declar- 
 ation of Independence was adopted. Should any one 
 pronounce this state paper to be a forgery of last 
 year we would consider him insane. If we reasoned 
 with him at all, we might ask how, on the sup- 
 position of forgery, he accounted for the existence of 
 the United States as a free and independent people, 
 governed by laws of their own and by agents of their 
 own ? Or should he pronounce it a forgery of 1796, 
 the question still recurs, if it be a forgery of that or 
 any other period, how and when did the United States 
 become an independent nation ? Would the genera- 
 tion of 1776 have received this document unless it 
 had been both genuine and authentic ? And that they 
 knew the facts to which it referred to be true ? To 
 suppose the contrary is to suppose what is impossible 
 and absurd. This familiar illustration applies with 
 all its force to the books of the New Testament. The 
 reasoning in the one case, with all its simplicity and 
 clearness, applies with equal simplicity and clearness
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 43 
 
 to the other. And, as it is impossible that the Declar- 
 ation of Independence could have been a forgery of 
 1776 or of any later period, so it is equally impos- 
 sible that the Christian Scriptures could have been a 
 forgery of the time they purport to have been written 
 or of any later period. The era of the one is annually 
 celebrated by the whole people of the United States ; 
 the era of the other is also statedly celebrated by the 
 whole Christian Church in her solemn ordinances. 
 The Declaration of Independence records the birth 
 of an independent nation, which exists at the present 
 day ; the New Testament records the beginning of 
 the Christian Church, which also exists at the present 
 day. The one was received as genuine and authentic 
 by our fathers of 1776, because they had knowledge 
 of the truth of the facts to which it refers. In the 
 truth of those facts they could not be deceived. They 
 were written with the blood of fathers, husbands, 
 sons mothers, wives and daughters. They witnessed 
 and endured scenes of desolation, distress and misery 
 on every side; and in all these thousands of them- 
 selves were the sufferers. It is mockery, not reason- 
 ing, to say that in these facts they could have been 
 deceived. And how was it with the generation of the 
 New Testament writers? The first history of the 
 Christian Church was also written in the blood of 
 fathers and mothers, husbands, wives and children. 
 They, too, endured the spoiling of their goods ; they 
 were persecuted, vilified and oppressed, and their 
 very names cast out as evil ; and, for the truth of what 
 they saw and what they believed, they suffered death 
 in all its forms. And will it be contended that, with 
 the most ample means of knowing the truth, they 
 suffered all these things for a forgery or a falsehood ?
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 18. Let us now see what is the evidence of history 
 on this question. Here the evidence negatively is 
 complete. The Jewish historian, Josephus, was a 
 cotemporary of some of the writers of the New Testa- 
 ment. He writes the history of the same period, and 
 relates some things in common with them ; but he 
 never intimates that those writings were forged or 
 false. Nor does any other Jewish writer, nor do the 
 Roman historians of that or any later period in the 
 least degree intimate a suspicion of forgery or false- 
 hood. On the contrary, Josephus, in his history of 
 Herod the Great, of Archelaus and of Pontius Pilate, 
 by reference to dates, customs, parties, and to various 
 other points, confirms the New Testament history ; 
 and the Roman historians, as will be shown hereafter, 
 expressly state that the life of Jesus Christ was 
 written by His immediate followers. 
 
 19. The direct affirmative historical evidence is 
 full and conclusive. The books of the New Testa- 
 ment have been quoted and referred to by a continued 
 series of Christian and other writers from the days of 
 the apostles till the present time. 
 
 In the first century we have the five Christian 
 fathers Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius and 
 Polycarp. These writers were contemporaries of the 
 apostles, and the first three are named in the New 
 Testament. They all refer to the books of the New 
 Testament as genuine and authentic Scriptures, re- 
 ceived and relied on by the whole Christian Church. 
 
 20. In the second century we have the following 
 writers,* who in like manner bear their testimony 
 
 * For a detailed account of the Christian and heathen 
 writers, see Appendix, No. 1. See Lardner^s Credibility of 
 the Gospel History, British Encyclopaedia, ninth edition.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 45 
 
 to the writings of the New Testament: Papias, in 
 Necropolis, A.D. 114; Justin Martyr, Palestine, 140; 
 Tatian, 170 ; Hegerippus, 170 ; Ireneus, Lyon, 170 ; 
 Athenagoras, 180 ; Theophilus, Antioch, 181 ; Clem- 
 ent, Alexandia, 180 ; Tertullian, Carthage, 190. 
 
 21. In the third century, Ammonias, A.D. 220 ; 
 Julius Africanno, 220 ; Hippolytus, 225 ; Origen, 240 ; 
 Cyprian, Carthage, 250 ; Dionysius, Rome, 260 ; Com- 
 modian, 270 ; Theognostus, 270 ; Yictorinus, Germany, 
 290 ; Methodius, Tyre, 290 ; Philias, Egypt, 296. 
 
 22. In the fourth century Eusebius, the historian, 
 815 ; Marcellus, 320; Athanasius, 326 ; Juvenius, Spain, 
 345 ; Council of Laodicea, 363 ; Basil, Cappadocia, 370 ; 
 Jerome, 372 ; Gregory, 375 ; Augustin, 394. Several 
 of these writers have left us a catalogue of the books 
 of the New Testament, agreeing with the names of the 
 books as we now have them. So also did the Third 
 Council of Carthage, A.D. 397. 
 
 23. During the first, second and third centuries, 
 various heresies sprung up in the bosom of the church. 
 The writings of those who advocated these heresies in 
 various ways afford evidence that the books of the New 
 Testament are genuine and authentic. Thus the Ebi- 
 onites received the gospel by Matthew, but rejected all 
 the epistles of Paul, whom they called an apostate, be- 
 cause he departed from the Levitical law. On the 
 other hand, the Gnostics contended that the gospel by 
 Matthew, the epistle to the Hebrews, and those of 
 Peter and John, were writings for Jews, not for 
 Christians. All these contests prove the existence of 
 the books of the New Testament. 
 
 24. Tacitus, a Roman historian and a heathen, 
 states that this pernicious superstition took its rise 
 from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberias Caesar, was
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 put to death by Pontius Pilate ; that it spread rapidly 
 and had infected great numbers in Rome itself ; and 
 that the Christians suffered a dreadful persecution in 
 Eome by order of Nero, A.D. 65. 
 
 The celebrated letters of the younger Pliny to the 
 Emperor Trajan prove that the knowledge of Chris- 
 tianity was general in Pontus and Bythinia ; he states, 
 also, the purity of the lives and the fortitude of the 
 Christians under suffering. The persecution they 
 then endured was the subject of the letter, A. D. 106. 
 
 Celsus, A.D. 176, mentions some of the disciples 
 by name, and quotes many passages from the books 
 of the New Testament. He admits most of the facts 
 of the gospel history. He professed to draw his 
 arguments from the writings received by the Christian 
 church, especially the four gospels, and in no one in- 
 stance from any other writings. 
 
 Porphyry, that sensible, learned, but severe and 
 unfair, enemy of Christianity, bears a testimony 
 equally conclusive to the authenticity of the books 
 of the New Testament. He possessed every advant- 
 age, which learning, natural abilities or political 
 situation could afford, but, sagacious and acute as he 
 was, he never attempted to deny that the books of 
 the New Testament were genuine. He wrote against 
 the Christians A. D. 263. 
 
 One hundred years later, A. D. 360, flourished the 
 Emperor Julian. He systematically and most insidi- 
 ously set himself to root out Christianity from his 
 empire. He names the four Gospels, notices the 
 difference between them, and refers to the Acts of the 
 Apostles. In numerous instances he refers to the 
 customs and worship of the Christian church ; and, in 
 his attempts to reform the Pagan superstition, his
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 47 
 
 arguments and his exhortations are drawn from the 
 Christian practice, as founded on the principles and 
 precepts of the New Testament. 
 
 25. It is deemed unnecessary to trace the historical 
 evidence into the fifth and succeeding centuries. In 
 every step of the progress downwards, the testimony 
 becomes more and more crowded, by Christian 
 writers, by the writings of the heretics and by those 
 opposed to Christianity. In the early part of the 
 fourth century, the Christian religion was acknowl- 
 edged in the palace of the Csesars, and in the Roman 
 Empire, the mighty structure of the Pagan Idolatry 
 fell to rise no more. 
 
 26. From the days of the Apostles numerous Chris- 
 tian churches have existed in all parts of the civilized 
 world. Multitudes of all ranks, abandoned their idol 
 worship, and embraced the pure principles of the 
 Gospel. Now, in the continued evidence of these 
 Christian Churches, and in the concurrence of the 
 multitudes who professed the Christian faith, we have 
 the most conclusive evidence to the truth of the Gos- 
 pel history. It is the unbroken and the daily testi- 
 mony of hundreds of thousands of unexceptionable 
 witnesses in all parts of the world. In their local and 
 dispersed situations, in all ages, combination and col- 
 lusion, for the purposes of forgery and deception, 
 were impracticable ; and by their united and con- 
 tinued testimony a chain of evidence, the most con- 
 clusive, the most perfect, is established from the first 
 rise of Christianity to the present time.
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 IV. NEW TESTAMENT DIVINELY INSPIRED. 
 
 27. The writers of the New Testament not only 
 claim to have had perfect knowledge of the things 
 which they saw and heard and taught, but they go 
 further, and in all these claim to have been under a 
 divine and infallible guidance. In reference to the 
 historical facts, they assert "that they were guided 
 by a divine direction, that God Himself taught them 
 all things, and brought all things to their remem- 
 brance, whatsoever Jesus Christ had said unto them." 
 In reference to precepts and doctrines, they assert 
 "that they were such as they had received of the 
 Lord," that they spoke "not in the words which 
 man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost 
 teacheth "; that these things "were not received by 
 man but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." In a 
 word, they claim to have recorded a Divine Revelation 
 as delivered to them "by the wisdom of the Living 
 God." 
 
 28. Before proceeding to examine the evidence on 
 which the New Testament writers rest this high claim, 
 it is proper to examine what the claim itself really is, 
 and how it applies to these writings, as consisting of 
 history, precepts and prophecy. On this subject 
 much has been written, and often have attempts at 
 explanation made it more obscure. We are told of 
 plenary inspiration, of an inspiration of superintend- 
 ency, of a plenary superintendent inspiration, of an 
 inspiration of suggestion, of elevation, etc., etc. It is 
 believed that the use of these different terms is unne- 
 cessary and injurious ; and that they only darken 
 counsel by words without knowledge.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 49 
 
 29. On turning to the pages of the record itself to 
 see what this claim is, we find it expressed and re- 
 ferred to in a great variety of ways. Sometimes the 
 expressions are general and indefinite. The fact that 
 the communication was divine, is distinctly asserted, 
 but not the manner in which it was made to them. 
 "On the day of Pentecost the disciples were all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with toher 
 tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts ii, 
 4. "For I have received of the Lord that which also 
 
 I delivered unto you." I Cor. xi, 23. "For I neither 
 received it by man, neither was I taught it, but by 
 the revelation of Jesus Christ." Gal. v, 12. "Holy 
 men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 II Pet. i, 21. In some instances the expressions are 
 more definite, and we are informed how the revela- 
 tion was made. When the apostles were cast into 
 prison, the angel of the Lord sets them free, and 
 directs them "to go, stand and speak in the temple to 
 people all the words of this life." Acts v, 19, 20. 
 " The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, 
 Arise go towards the south." Acts viii, 26. "The 
 angel of the Lord stood by Paul and spoke to him," 
 Acts xxvii, 23. ' 'And again an angel appeared to John, 
 and explained and revealed to him things to come." 
 Rev. xxii, 16. "The Holy Ghost said, separate me 
 Barnabas and Paul, for the work whereunto I have 
 called them." Acts xiii, 2. Unto the third heavens 
 was the apostle of the Gentiles caught up, and heard 
 unspeakable words whether in the body or out of the 
 body, He did not Himself know. II Cor. xii, 1-3. 
 John, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, at the baptism 
 of His Lord, and the three disciples on the Mount 
 heard a Voice from heaven, saying, "This is my Be-
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 loved Son in whom I am well pleased." Mat. iii, 17 
 and xvii, 5 ; II Pet. i, 17, 18. 
 
 A great part of the New Testament message was 
 revealed by Jesus Christ Himself to His disciples. 
 During years of familiar and most endearing inter- 
 course, He revealed and expounded to them the things 
 of His kingdom. From heaven He descended, and in 
 brightness above the mid-day sun, spoke to the vio- 
 lent persecutor of His people, from thenceforth called 
 to be one of His most distinguished witnesses. Acts 
 ix, 1-20. To the same apostle He again appeared 
 in a vision, encouraging and strengthening him. Acts 
 xviii, 9. To him who leaned on his breast at supper, 
 He again appeared in the Isle of Patmos ; but so glori- 
 ous, that the beloved disciple fell at His feet as 
 dead. Rev. i, 17. 
 
 30. In all these rich and varied expressions of the 
 New Testament writers, we are taught to consider 
 them as having delivered to us a message from God. 
 That this message in all its parts consists of entire 
 truth, and of such truth as it was the will and good 
 pleasure of God should be revealed to us by them. 
 The communication of these truths to them is in the 
 message itself called "Divine Inspiration."* This 
 means nothing more nor less than the Divine Revela- 
 tion, or communication, of these truths to their minds, 
 and thereby enabling them, without error or mistake, 
 to speak and write the things, thus by them received, 
 whether relating to prophecy, moral precepts or 
 historical facts. 
 
 31. The Divine Inspiration claimed by these writers, 
 as far as it respects prophecy and moral precepts, is 
 
 *Tlieopneustos, I Tim. iii, 16.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 51 
 
 easily understood ; but how it applies to historical 
 facts is not so apparent, and hence, as already noticed, 
 the diversity of terms applied to this subject. It is 
 asked, where is the necessity of Divine Inspiration, 
 when a competent witness, in relating a fact, speaks 
 from personal knowledge ? There is no doubt but in 
 such a case the truth may be told without Divine 
 Inspiration ; and that a historical fact recorded under 
 divine guidance, and one recorded without it, may be 
 both equally true. But those to whom the relation 
 of the fact is given have not the same certainty of its 
 truth in both cases. In one, there is the possibility 
 of forgetfulness, the possibility of misapprehension 
 and of error, the possibility that the relation of the 
 fact itself is not necessary ; the other is beyond any 
 such possibility. The one testimony is human, the 
 other is Divine. 
 
 32. Another inquiry of some moment belongs to 
 this branch of the subject. Does this Divine Inspira- 
 tion extend to the words, or only to the thoughts or 
 minds of the writers ? 
 
 Every one who is capable of examining the New 
 Testament in the original language will perceive that 
 it is not written in the pure Greek of Xenophon or 
 Plato. It is Hebraic Greek, or such as was used by 
 the Jews when they spoke or wrote in Greek. The 
 original Greek, also, or even a faithful translation 
 shows a diversity of style amongst these writers. We 
 find also that in relating the same facts there is sel- 
 dom a verbal agreement. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, from the language in which 
 these books were written, that of Hebraic Greek, 
 from the diversity of style of the different writers, 
 and from the verbal differences in the relation of facts.
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOW WE. 
 
 that, to some extent at least, these writers were left 
 to the resources of their own minds. But we must 
 remember that the clear perception of knowledge 
 enabled them to express it clearly, either in speaking 
 or writing. 
 
 The foregoing remarks are illustrated, and indeed 
 are embraced, in another consideration. In translating 
 the New Testament from the Greek into another 
 language, if the translation be faithful, the Divine 
 Inspiration is not lost in the change of words or 
 idioms ; it is still a Divine Revelation, though spoken 
 in another tongue. So in secular affairs. The testi- 
 mony of witnesses admitted to be honest and com- 
 petent, though spoken in a language unknown to the 
 court and jury, will yet be the foundation for the 
 judgment and verdict of that court and jury even in 
 cases of life and death. Here, of course, the court 
 and jury will first be well assured that the testimony 
 has been faithfully translated. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, on the one hand, we are not to 
 consider the words nor the arrangement of the words 
 as being divinely inspired, so, on the other hand, we 
 are not warranted, by anything contained in the mes- 
 sage itself, in concluding that no limits were assigned 
 on these points to the minds of the writers. On the 
 contrary, whatever discretion or latitude was allowed, 
 they claim distinctly to have delivered their message, 
 not in the words of human wisdom but in the words 
 as taught by a Divine Teacher. I Cor. ii 3, 13. 
 
 33. Having thus considered what Divine Inspira- 
 tion is, let us now examine the evidence by which the 
 claim to it is supported. 
 
 We have already seen (N"o. 11) that these writers 
 gave the highest evidence of sincerity by their holy
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 53 
 
 and blameless lives, by their sufferings and by tlieir 
 submitting voluntarily to martyrdom in the support 
 of the truth of the things related. But one of the 
 things thus related by them is the fact that they 
 spake not of themselves but as it was revealed to 
 them. They tell us that they heard a Voice from 
 heaven saying, "This is my Beloved Son in whom I 
 am well pleased." They tell us that on the day of 
 Pentecost they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit 
 gave them utterance. They tell us that such and 
 such things were revealed to them by the Lord, and 
 that they delivered His message as they received it. 
 From the very nature of the facts recorded every 
 argument and every consideration, which proves the 
 record to be genuine and authentic, proves its Divine 
 Inspiration. 
 
 34. The miracles performed by Jesus Christ are con- 
 clusive proof that his was a divine mission. As such 
 he appeals to them (John v, 36) ; and as siich the 
 sincere enquirers after the truth considered them ; 
 (John iii, 2 and ix, 31). The writers of the New 
 Testament also appeal to the miracles performed by 
 them as full proof that their message was divine (Acts 
 v, 32) ; and these appeals are conclusive ; they are 
 beyond the reach of cavil ; the miracles set the broad 
 seal of heaven to the divine mission of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and to the truth of the testimony of the 
 apostles. 
 
 35. The enemies of Divine Revelation have felt the 
 force of this part of the Christian argument, and 
 their utmost efforts have been made to lessen or evade 
 it. Down to the time of the Emperor Julian, the 
 opposers of Christianity ascribed the miracles to
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 magic. Neither Celsus, Porphyry nor Julian denied 
 the fact that the miracles recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment had been performed. But they contended that 
 Jesus, when in Egypt, had learned magic, and these 
 were the fruits of His skill. "Let us grant," says 
 Celsus, " that they were performed ; must we not say 
 that these are the artifices of wicked and miserable 
 men?" "Jesus," says Julian, "did nothing in his 
 lifetime worthy of remembrance, unless any one 
 thinks it a mighty matter to heal lame and blind 
 people, and exorcise demoniacs in the valleys of 
 Bethsaida and Bethany." One skeptic of modern 
 date has contended that, from the nature of the fact 
 itself, as being contrary to our experience, no proof 
 could establish a miracle. And the infidels of our 
 day content themselves with a naked denial of their 
 existence. 
 
 The objections of the heathen opposers are now no 
 further worthy of notice than to show how the ground 
 of opposition has been shifted since that time. The 
 sophistry of Hume and his followers never deceived a 
 sincere enquirer after truth. If we are to believe 
 nothing but what we see and hear, for the objection 
 amounts to that, then is our knowledge small indeed. 
 To this day the writer of these remarks never saw or 
 felt an earthquake, or a waterspout, or a volcanic 
 eruption. It is contrary to all his experience that 
 either of these ever existed. But the principles of 
 human testimony are not contrary to his experience, 
 and, therefore, he has no doubt that these things have 
 been seen and felt by others. In common with those 
 who preceded them, the Carlisles, the Wrights and 
 the Owens of the present time contend that human 
 reason is sufficient in all cases. Yet, on this subject,
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 55 
 
 they will not reason. If they are invited to an exam- 
 ination of the historical evidence of the New Testa- 
 ment, they answer by naked assertion or coarse and 
 contemptible ridicule and invective. While they 
 pursue this course, argument is of no avail ; reason 
 itself is useless ; so to him who is blind, and to him 
 who obstinately and wilfully shuts his eyes, the light 
 is equally useless. 
 
 PEOPHECY. 
 
 36. If prophecy exist at all, every one will con- 
 cede that it is an evidence of Divine Kevelation ; and 
 that the knowledge of future events is a knowledge 
 derived immediately from heaven. If the fact of any 
 one prophecy and its fulfilment be proved, the fact 
 of the Divine Inspiration of the agent announcing the 
 prophecy is also proved. 
 
 37. A few only of the numerous prophecies con- 
 tained in the New Testament are selected to illustrate 
 this branch of the subject. 
 
 E. We find the Lord Jesus Christ informing his 
 disciples beforehand that he would be betrayed to the 
 chief priests and scribes ; that they would condemn 
 him to death, and deliver him to the gentiles ; and 
 that, after the most insulting and cruel treatment, he 
 would be crucified, and after three days rise again 
 from the dead. Matt, xvi, 21 ; xvii, 22 ; xx, 18-19 . 
 Mark viii, 31 ; ix, 31 ; x ; 33-34 ; Luke ix, 22 ; xviii,' 
 31-33. All these predictions to the very letter were 
 fulfilled in the sufferings, death and resurrection of 
 our blessed Lord. 
 
 F. The descent of the Holy Ghost upon the 
 apostles, and the power of working miracles and 
 speaking with other tongues are distinctly foretold,
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 and the full accomplishment of all these distinctly 
 recorded. Luke xxiv, 49 ; Mark xvi, 17-18 ; Acts ii. 
 G. The destruction of Jerusalem and its celebrated 
 temple, the period when this awful event would take 
 place, the signs which would precede it, the dreadful 
 miseries and calamities, and the total ruin that would 
 then befall the Jewish nation, are clearly, distinctly 
 and minutely predicted. Mat. xxiii, 37-38 and xxiv, 
 2-21 ; Mark xiii, 2-22 ; Luke xiii, 34-35 and xix, 23 
 and xxi, 6-24. In the history of Josephus, and in 
 the Roman and other historians, of that and later 
 periods, and in the history of the homeless, fugitive 
 Jews, scattered through all nations for 1800 years, 
 we have the full and distinct account of the perfect 
 fulfilment of this most remarkable and stupendous 
 prediction. 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT GENUINE AND AUTHENTIC. 
 
 38. The writings of the Old Testament, although 
 usually bound in one volume, and like the New 
 Testament, by many considered as but one book, con- 
 sist of thirty-nine different books, written by nearly 
 as many different authors, at different times during a 
 period of more than a thousand years, from the death 
 of Moses, A. M. 2555 to the close of the prophecy of 
 Malachi in A. M. 3580. 
 
 39. The best account we have of these writers is 
 contained in the books themselves and in the books 
 of the New Testament, and it would be an interesting 
 employment to draw the character of each writer as 
 given in those authentic records. But here that 
 would be out of place, and it must suffice to observe 
 that amongst them we find statesmen rich in the
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 57 
 
 experience and wisdom acquired in the government 
 of mighty empires, distinguished warriors, power- 
 ful kings, humble shepherds, poets, prophets, and 
 historians, and embracing talents and arguments, 
 modes of thought and expression as various, as were 
 their learning, natural abilities, occupation or 
 employment. 
 
 40. We have the uncontradicted tradition of the 
 Jews, whose political history these books record, to 
 their genuineness and truth. From the time the first 
 of them was written, their care and preservation were 
 assigned to a particular tribe, specially set apart for 
 that and similar purposes. On their face they have 
 every mark of genuine and authentic records. They 
 contain many things to the disadvantage of the 
 nation ; they abound in particulars of dates, places 
 and persons ; but above all, they record the final 
 deliverance from bondage, and the written laws and 
 ordinances of a whole people, existing at the present 
 time, and adhering to and regulated by these laws 
 and ordinances. 
 
 41. It will scarcely be contended by any that the 
 Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the 
 United States, and the Laws of Congress did not exist 
 from the time they purport to have existed. This 
 illustration in part, has already been used in refer- 
 ence to the books of the New Testament (No. 17). 
 As it respects the five books of Moses the parallel is 
 complete. The 4th day of July is the birthday of 
 one people, from the oppression of Great Britain; 
 the 15th day of the month Abib, is the birthday of 
 the other people from the bondage of Egypt ; and 
 these days are annually celebrated by each people 
 respectively. The constitution and laws of the
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 United States have, since their first existence, been 
 received by the people of the United States, and by 
 them are our people at this time regulated and gov- 
 erned. The laws, ordinances and ceremonies given 
 by Moses to the Hebrews, were also received by that 
 people, and by them are the Jews, at this time, regu- 
 lated and governed. By reference to the cases already 
 considered (Nos. 16, 26) it will be seen that the sup- 
 position of forgery and falsehood in either of these 
 cases is impossible and absurd. 
 
 42. The nations existing at the time the books of the 
 Old Testament were written have all disappeared. 
 These books, and these alone, give us the history of 
 the rise and fall of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Midian, 
 Philistia and of Amalik. Ancient Egypt is now no 
 more; Assyria, Nineveh and Tyre have for ages 
 ceased to exist, and many generations have passed 
 away since the once great and mighty Babylon has 
 been swept with the besom of desolation ; their 
 records, their histories, their monuments have shared 
 the same fate destruction and oblivion have passed 
 upon all. With the solitary exception of one Jewish 
 historian, when we leave the pages of the Old Testa- 
 ment writings, fable, tradition, and a few scattered 
 fragments of the historians of later nations, are all 
 that remain. The history of Josephus is the only one 
 which speaks of the times and the things related in 
 these books, and he wrote fourteen hundred years 
 after the first, and four hundred years after the last 
 of the Old Testament writers. But it will be shown 
 hereafter that this absence of historical evidence is 
 abundantly supplied by proof of another kind, the 
 most decisive and conclusive.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 59 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT DIVINELY INSPIEED. 
 
 43. Miracles. The writers of the Old Testament 
 claim to have written under the guidance of Divine 
 Inspiration, and they prove the truth of their claim 
 by miracles and prophecy. If it be admitted that the 
 claim to both or to either is well founded, the ques- 
 tion is settled by that admission. Let us examine 
 them separately. 
 
 The miracles performed by Moses hold the first 
 place as to time and greatness. Of these, it might be 
 sufficient to observe that they are recorded in the 
 same books which contain the constitution, laws and 
 ordinances of the Hebrew nation. If it has been proved 
 (Nos. 40, 41) that these laws have existed from the 
 time they are said to have existed, the fact that the 
 miracles were then performed is also proved. But as 
 this point is of acknowledged importance, let us 
 examine it more particularly. These miracles are : 
 That for the deliverance of Israel, ten destructive 
 plagues, at the word of Moses, were brought upon 
 the Egyptians ; that an arm of the Arabian Gulf was 
 divided, and the whole host of Israel passed through 
 on dry land ; that a cloud by day and a pillar of fire 
 by night went before them ; that in the desert manna 
 from heaven was their daily food, water from the 
 barren rock was their daily drink for the space of 
 forty years ; that while encamped at Mount Sinai 
 they witnessed a most astonishing, awful and stupen- 
 dous display of Divine power, majesty and glory. 
 These and other miracles are said to have been wit- 
 nessed by a whole nation, by the entire population, 
 consisting of six hundred thousand men, besides
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 women and children, and a mixed multitude from 
 other nations. 
 
 Now it will be admitted, or can easily be proved, 
 that this same people exist at the present day, and 
 that they firmly believe that these miracles were per- 
 formed, and seen by their fathers, as we find them 
 recorded in the books of Moses. 
 
 If the account of these miracles is false, and is a 
 forgery, it must be an imposition of the age when 
 they are said to have been performed, or an imposi- 
 tion of some subsequent age. But it could not be the 
 first, because a whole people had personal knowledge 
 of the subject ; it relates to facts about which they 
 could not be mistaken or deceived, and by no possi- 
 bility could they be brought to believe what they 
 knew to be false. Neither could the account be an 
 imposition of a later period. The books which record 
 the miracles contain also the constitution and laws of 
 the whole people. They claim to have been written 
 at the time of that deliverance, and assert that the 
 generation then existing witnessed all the facts, and 
 submitted to and were regulated by the laws there 
 recorded. Now, suppose all this to be a forgeiy first 
 brought forward 100 or 500 years after the Exodus. 
 Is it possible that the generation then existing could 
 be induced to believe that for 100 or 500 years they 
 and their fathers had been governed by peculiar laws, 
 of which they had never heard till that time ? Or 
 that numerous and stupendous miracles had been per- 
 formed in the presence of their forefathers, of which 
 also they had never heard before ? The statement of 
 these questions shows the supposition to be impos- 
 sible and absurd. 
 
 44. Prophecies. The numerous and astonish-
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 61 
 
 ing prophecies of the Old Testament prove its di- 
 vine origin. A few of these only can be here 
 noticed. 
 
 Of Ismael, the son of Abraham, and the father of 
 the tribes of Arabia, it was foretold before his birth 
 that he should be a wild ass man : That his hand 
 should be against every man, and every man's hand 
 against him and that he should be the father of a 
 great nation. The accomplishment of the prophecy 
 has been written in the history of this remarkable 
 people for the last four thousand years. In every age 
 and to this day these tribes are as free as the wild ass 
 of the desert. " Their house is in the wilderness and 
 the barren land their dwelling." They have repelled 
 the greatest efforts, of Eygpt, of Assyria and of Borne, 
 made against them in the days of the greatest strength 
 and power of those kingdoms ; and as in former times, 
 so at this day " they scorn the multitude of the cities, 
 their hand is still against every man, and the hand of 
 every man is still against them." 
 
 45. The prophecies relating to the property of 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are numerous ; many have 
 been fulfilled, some are now fulfilling, and some are 
 yet future. Let us examine one delivered by Moses 
 three thousand two hundred years ago. "And the 
 Lord shall scatter thee among all people from the one 
 end of the earth even unto the other ; and among all 
 these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the 
 sole of thy foot have rest ; but the Lord shall give 
 thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and 
 sorrow of mind ; and thy life shall hang in doubt be- 
 fore thee ; and thou shalt fear day and night, and 
 shalt have none assurance for thy life ; and thou shalt 
 become an astonishment, a proverb and a bye-word,
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee." 
 Deut. xxviii, 64-67. 
 
 These few lines contain the history of the Jews for 
 the last seventeen hundred years ; and no historian 
 could describe their actual condition during that 
 period, and as now existing in language more appro- 
 priate than that used by the prophet thirty centuries 
 ago. The wonderful accomplishment of the prophecy 
 comes home to our personal knowledge. We know 
 that this people, separate and distinct from all others, 
 are scattered among all nations ; and we know that 
 their condition in every country is here truly de- 
 scribed. And what is most extraordinary, and ap- 
 parently impossible, is that our own blessed country, 
 this enlightened land of equal rights, this home of 
 the oppressed and persecuted of all nations, forms no 
 exception ! Even with us, public sentiment is against 
 them, and proscribes and persecutes them in a thou- 
 sand ways ; in many things dearest to the heart of 
 man, our equal right to them are but a name ; and 
 altho' the existence of this fact is not honorable to us, 
 yet we do know that the Jew is still a proverb and a 
 bye-word amongst us. Their existence as a distinct 
 people, thus dispersed, and thus persecuted, is a 
 standing miracle, which all the infidel philosophers 
 in the world cannot contradict, nor on their principles 
 explain. 
 
 46. In the year B.C. 975, we find the union of the 
 Hebrew states broken, and the tribes of Israel exist- 
 ing under two separate and hostile governments. The 
 able but ambitious and profligate ruler of the ten 
 tribes, acting on the councils of a crooked worldly 
 policy, had erected places of worship in his own 
 dominions, to prevent his people from going to the
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 63 
 
 territories of the rival where the temple was built, 
 and where by the law of Moses the whole people 
 were required to assemble. In this state of hostile 
 rivalry a prophet from Judah, in the presence of 
 Jeroboam, predicted "that a child born unto the 
 house of David, Josiah by name, should defile his 
 altar, and burn the bones of dead men upon it," 
 I Kings xiii, 2. This prophecy could not take place 
 until the power of two tribes, governed by the house 
 of David, should be extended over the other ten, 
 which at that time was most unlikely. Yet in three 
 hundred and fifty years we have the record of its ful- 
 filment to the very letter. II Kings xxiii, 15. 
 
 47. About the year B.C. 600 we find the kingdom 
 of Judah under subjection to the king of Babylon. 
 Part of the people had been carried captive into As- 
 syria, and part were in India under Zedekiah, the 
 tributary of Nebuchadnezzer. After a reign of eleven 
 years of oppression and injustice Zedekiah rebelled 
 against the king of Babylon. At this time the 
 prophet Jeremiah resided in Jerusalem, and the 
 prophet Ezekiel in the land of Assyria. Each pre- 
 dicted the result of the coming contest, and particu- 
 larly what would befall the Hebrew monarch. An ap- 
 parent direct contradiction between these two prophets 
 afforded abundant ground of cavil to the persecuting 
 infidels, and time-serving courtiers of that day. Jere- 
 miah predicted that Zedekiah should see the king of 
 Babylon, and be carried to Babylon. Ezekiel, that 
 he should not see Babylon. Jeremiah, that he should 
 die in peace, and be buried after the manner of his 
 ancestors. Ezekiel, that he should die at Babylon, 
 Jer. xxxii, 1-5 ; Ez. xii, 13. But the history shewed 
 both prophets to have been right, and that there was
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 no error in the Spirit by which they spoke. " So they 
 took the king, and brought him up to the king of 
 Babylon to Reblah ; and they gave judgments upon 
 him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his 
 eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound 
 him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Baby- 
 lon." II Kings xxv, 6-7. 
 
 48. Eygpt, Ethiopia, Nineveh and Tyre were at dif- 
 ferent times the most powerful states of antiquity ; 
 and Edom, Moab, Ammon and Philistia were com- 
 munities of more or less importance and all of long 
 standing. All these were the objects of minute, de- 
 finite and specific prophecy ; and their history and 
 their present desolation shew that the predictions of 
 their fate, were given by Him who knows the end 
 from the beginning. 
 
 49. Babylon was long the seat of power and do- 
 minion in the eastern world ; and there also was the 
 seat of commerce, of manufactures, and of the me- 
 chanic and fine arts. Learning and science took up 
 their abode there. Her buildings, her hanging gardens, 
 her walls and brazen gates have in all ages been the 
 wonder of the world. In the year B.C. 550 this empire 
 was in the full height of strength and power under an 
 able statesman, the first warrior of that age. How 
 strange to those who would neither believe nor re- 
 gard, must have appeared the predictions of the utter 
 ruin, and perpetual desolation of such a mighty 
 empire. But years in advance had the God of Israel 
 by his prophets foretold her overthrow, and placed 
 on record the very name of her conquerer. And as if 
 to leave the infidels of the present day without excuse 
 for saying that these predictions were forgeries after 
 the events had taken place, the pen of Divine Inspira-
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 65 
 
 tion has described the perpetual ruin, which yet rests 
 upon this glory of kingdoms ; and thus from age to 
 age, has a standing miracle been exhibited to the 
 world, which stamps the record with the seal of 
 Divine truth, and sets infidelity and cavil at defiance. 
 
 " Babylon shall become a possession for the bit- 
 terns, and pools of water, the wild beast of the desert 
 shall dwell there ; and the owls shall dwell therein. 
 Babylon the glory of kingdoms, shall become heaps, 
 a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an 
 hiving without an inhabitant ; she shall sink and 
 shall not rise from the evil that I shall bring upon 
 her. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorah, and 
 the neighbouring cities thereof, so shall no man dwell 
 there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. It 
 shall be no more inhabited forever ; neither shall it 
 be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither 
 shall the Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall the 
 shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of 
 the desert shall be there, and their houses shall be 
 full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, 
 and dragons in their pleasant palaces." Isa. xlv, 1-3 ; 
 Jer. 1, 39-40, and li, 26, 37, 64 ; Isa. xiii, 19-22, 50. 
 
 The prophet Daniel was preeminent in wisdom and 
 piety, and the most distinguished statesman of the 
 age. Under the greatest Babylonian monarch and his 
 successors, and under Cyrus and Darius, from his 
 youth to extreme old age, we find him filling, with 
 purity and ability, the most responsible trusts in the 
 greatest empire in the world. Whilst yet a young 
 man he acquired the well-founded confidence of 
 Nebuchadnezzer ; and his distinguished merits and 
 abilities insured to him the lasting friendship and 
 esteem of Cyrus and of Darius. In his writings the
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 transfer, by conquest, of the empire to the Medes and 
 Persians, the subversion of that power by the 
 Grecians, the division into four parts which followed 
 the death of the Grecian conquerer, and the rise of 
 the Roman government, were all foretold in language 
 so definite, that the historian of these great events 
 has but filled up the specific outline of the prophet. 
 Dan. ii, 39-40, and vii, 17-24, and viii and ix. 
 
 This series of remarkable prophecies has very 
 much annoyed and pressed the advocates of infidelity. 
 Distinguished and able men of that party have given 
 reasons for their unbelief directly in conflict with 
 each other. The learned and sagacious Porphyry, in 
 the third century, contended that, between the proph- 
 ecies of Daniel and the record of history, the parallel 
 was so complete that the predictions were forgeries of 
 a period after the events had occurred. Jefferson, 
 however, in the nineteenth century, thought other- 
 wise ; but equally unwilling to admit the agency of 
 Divine influence, he contends, " that the whole of the 
 prophecies were fumes of the most disordered imagi- 
 nation; that it was only by the aid of allegories, figures, 
 types, and other tricks and words, that the events 
 now and then turning up in the course of ages could 
 be accommodated to these vague rhapsodies."* No 
 argument is shaken by naked assertion or indecent 
 cavils ; and the cause must be desperate which affords 
 its ablest advocates no other ground of defense. In 
 the present case, the operation of the one shows 
 that he had compared the prophecy with the histor- 
 ical evidence of its fulfilment ; but instead of going 
 one step further, and examining the evidence for the 
 
 * Jefferson Mem., vol. iv, p. 325, let. 153.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 67 
 
 time when the prophecy was written, he rests the 
 argument on an assertion which is contradicted by the 
 clearest testimony. The contemptible cavil of the 
 other shews only that he had not examined the sub- 
 ject at all. It is just what might be expected from 
 one who declares that "he rested on the writings of 
 Priestly and Middle ton as the basis of his truth."* 
 A poor basis truly, and a strange faith which thus 
 rests contented in ignorance and unbelief. 
 
 51. The series of prophecies in the Old Testament 
 respecting the Messiah, and their accomplishment in 
 the person of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the New, 
 furnishes to every lover of truth a field of most inter- 
 esting inquiry, and leads to results on which the 
 human mind can rest with perfect certainty. If these 
 prophecies have been fulfiled, they prove the divine 
 origin of the Old Testament. If they have been ful- 
 filed in Jesus Christ, they prove Him to have been 
 the promised Messiah. Our Lord Himself challenges 
 investigation on this point. " Search the Scriptures, 
 for they are they that testify of me." Again and 
 again do the New Testament writers assert, that in 
 the instances they were then recording, the ancient 
 prophecies were fulfiled. To reach the truth on this 
 most important subject, no great or splendid talents 
 are necessary . It is level to the capacity of all. Here 
 is the prophecy ; there is what is said to be the fulfil- 
 ment. Are they parallel 1 Do they correspond with 
 each other? A few instances, as specimens merely, 
 will be here noticed. 
 
 H. Where the Messiah should be born. 
 
 Prophecy. "And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 
 * Jefferson's Mem., vol. iv, p. 206, let. 112.
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, 
 yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to 
 be ruler in Israel ; whose going forth has been of old, 
 from the days of eternity." Micah v, 2. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And Joseph went forth from Galilee, 
 out of the City of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the 
 city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because 
 he was of the house and lineage of David,) to be 
 taxed, with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with 
 child. And so it was, that while they were there the 
 days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 
 And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped 
 him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger ; 
 because there was no room for them in the inn." 
 Luke ii, 4-7. 
 
 /. The Messiah should be born of a virgin. 
 
 Prophecy. " Therefore the Lord himself shall give 
 you a sign ; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a 
 son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isa. vii, 14. 
 Fulfilment. "But while he thought on these 
 things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto 
 him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, 
 fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that 
 which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And 
 she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his 
 name Jesus : for He shall save his people from their 
 sins." Mat. i, 20-21 ; also Luke i, 26-35. 
 
 J. The Messiah should be God and man. 
 
 Prophecy. " For unto us a child is born, unto us 
 a son is given, and the government shall be upon his 
 shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful 
 Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, 
 the Prince of Peace." Is. ix, 6 ; also Ps. ii, 7 and ex, 
 1 ; Mec. v, 2.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 69 
 
 Fulfilment. In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, 
 and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be- 
 gotten of the Father full of grace and truth." John i, 
 1, 14. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as con- 
 cerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God 
 blessed for ever, Amen." Rom. ix, 5. "For in Him 
 dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col. 
 ii, 9. " But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath 
 told you the truth." John viii, 40. " This is the true 
 God and eternal life." I John v, 6-20 ; also Heb. i, 
 1-8 ; Mat. xxii, 42-44 and i, 23. 
 
 K. Messiah should be destitute of outward power. 
 
 Prophecy. "He is despised and rejected of men ; 
 a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief ; and we 
 hid as it were our faces from him ; he was despised 
 and we esteemed him not." Is. liii, 3. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And Jesus said unto him, Foxes 
 have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but 
 the son of man hath not where to lay his head." 
 Luke ix, 58. " For ye know the 'grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich yet for your 
 sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty 
 might be rich." II Cor. viii, 9. 
 
 L. His Mission and Doctrines confirmed by mira- 
 cles. 
 
 Prophecy. " Then the eyes of the blind shall be 
 opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped ; 
 then shall the lame leap as an hare, and the tongue of 
 the dumb shall sing." Is. xxxv, 5-6. 
 
 "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and 
 will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give 
 thee for a covenant, for a light to the Gentiles ; to
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners 
 from the prison, and them that set in darkness out 
 of the prison house." Is. xlii, 6-7. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And Jesus said unto them, Go and 
 shew John again those things which ye do hear and 
 see ; the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, 
 the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised up, and the 
 poor have the gospel preached unto them." Mat. xi, 
 4^-5 ; also Mat. iv, 23-24 and xv, 31 ; Luke viii, 54. 
 
 M. Messiah should suffer insult and cruel mock- 
 ings. 
 
 PropJiecy. " But I am a worm and no man ; a re- 
 proach of men, and despised of the people. All they 
 that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, 
 they shake the head saying, He trusted in the Lord 
 that He would deliver Him ; let Him deliver Him see- 
 ing he delighted in Him." Ps. xxii, 7-8. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And they that passed by reviled 
 Him wagging their heads, and saying Thou that 
 destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 
 save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God come down 
 from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mock- 
 ing Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved 
 others Himself He cannot save. If He be the king of 
 Israel let Him now come down from the cross and we 
 will believe in Him. He trusted in God ; let Him 
 deliver Him now if He will have Him ; for He said ' I 
 am the Son of God.' " Mat. xxvii, 39-43 ; also Mark 
 xv, 31-32 ; Luke xxiii, 35-36. 
 
 N. Messiah should suffer death for the sins of 
 others. 
 
 Prophecy. "But He was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities ; the 
 chastisement of our fear was upon Him ; and with His
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 71 
 
 stripes we are healed. ... He was taken from 
 prison and from judgment ; and who shall declare His 
 generation ? for He was cut off out of the land of the 
 living : for the transgression of my people was He 
 stricken. . . . He poured out His soul unto the 
 death ; and He was numbered with transgressors ; and 
 He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for 
 the transgressor." Is. liii, 5, 8, 12. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And it was the third hour and they 
 crucified Him. And with Him they crucify two 
 thieves, the one on His right hand, and the other on 
 His left. And the Scripture was fulfiled, which 
 saith, and He was numbered with the transgressors." 
 Mark xv, 25-28. "Who His own self bore our sins 
 in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to 
 sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes 
 ye were healed." I Pet. ii, 24; also Mat. viii, 17; 
 John i, 29 ; Heb. ix, 28. 
 
 O. The manner of the death and burial of the 
 Messiah. 
 
 Prophecy. "And His grave was appointed with 
 the wicked ; But with the rich man was His tomb." 
 Isa. liii, 9.* 
 
 Fulfilment. "When the even was come, there 
 came a rich man of Asemathea named Joseph, 
 
 *Bishop Lowth translation. 
 
 i*op D'yan nN pi 
 vnon -wy n*o 
 
 The parallel passages, Deut. xxxii, 13 ; Is. Iviii, 14 ; Amos 
 iv, 13 ; Mic. i, 3 ; Isa. xiv, 14 ; Job. ix, 8, shew that *J1DD 
 signifies heights or high places. From II Chron. xxxii, 
 33, and Isa. xxii, 16, the Jewish graves are shown to have 
 been in high situations. Notes Bishop Lowth's Isaiah.
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 who also himself was Jesus' disciple ; he went 
 to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then 
 Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And 
 when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped 
 it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own 
 new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock ; 
 and he rolled a great stone to the door of the 
 sepulchre and departed." Mat. xxvii, 57-60. 
 
 P. The Messiah should arise from the dead and 
 ascend to heaven. 
 
 Prophecy. " For Thou wilt not leave my soul in 
 the grave, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to 
 see corruption." Ps. xvi, 10. "Thou hast ascended 
 up on high; Thou hast led captivity captive." Ps. 
 Ixviii, 18. 
 
 Fulfilment. "And the angel said unto them, fear 
 ye not, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was 
 crucified. He is not here ; for he has risen as He said, 
 "Come see the place where the Lord lay." Mat. xxviii, 
 5-6. "To whom also He showed Himself alive after 
 His passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of 
 them forty days, and speaking of the things pertain- 
 ing to the kingdom of God. And when He had 
 spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken 
 up ; and a bright cloud received Him out of their 
 sight." Acts i, 3-9 ; also, Acts ii, 31 and xiii, 35 ; Luke 
 xxiv, 5-6, 51 ; Mark xvi, 19. 
 
 52. The distinct testimony of Jesus Christ and His 
 apostles to the truth and Divine Inspiration of the 
 Old Testament, is of itself conclusive and most 
 abundantly supplies any want of historical evidence, 
 occasioned by the loss and destruction of the ancient 
 records of other nation. . . . From numerous 
 references the following are selected : Mat. xi, 13
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 73 
 
 and xxii, 40-43 ; Luke xvi, 16 and xx, 42 and xxiv, 
 25-44 ; Acts i, 20 and iii, 22 and vii, 35-37 and xxvi, 
 22 and xxviii, 23 ; Eom. x, 5 ; II Cor. iii, 7-15 ; II 
 Tim. iii, 14-17 ; Heb. vii, 14 and x, 28. 
 
 V. Internal evidences. 
 
 53. In considering what are usually called the in- 
 ternal evidences, it is proper distinctly to disclaim 
 all intention of bringing the doctrines and precepts 
 of the Bible to be judged of by the fallible standard 
 of human reason. Much injury has resulted from 
 this practice, and it cannot be too carefully guarded 
 against the councils, and the purpose of the Divine 
 mind, what is proper for the Almighty to do, and 
 what is proper for Him to reveal, lie all beyond the 
 safe legitimate exercise of our reasoning powers. 
 Giving these considerations, however, their full weight, 
 it will be found that a careful examination of the 
 writings of the Old and New Testaments will lead to 
 very satisfactory conclusions. 
 
 54. The works of Creation and Providence reveal 
 to us much of the power, wisdom and goodness of God. 
 But it is in the Bible alone that we have revealed to 
 us His true character and perfections. "God is a 
 Spirit and they shall worship Him, must worship in 
 Spirit and in truth." John iv, 24. "He is the King 
 eternal, immortal invisible, and the only wise God." 
 I Tern, i, 17. "He is the Father of Light, in 
 whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of 
 turning." Jam. i, 17. "His greatness is unsearch- 
 able." Ps. cxlv, 3. "And God said unto Moses, I 
 am that I am; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto 
 the children of Isrsel, I am, hath sent me unto you." 
 Ex. iii, 14. "He that loveth not knoweth not God, 
 for God is Love." I John iv, 8. "And the Lord
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 passed by before him, and proclaimed the Lord, the 
 Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and 
 abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for 
 thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, 
 and that will by no means clean the guilty." Ex. 
 xxxiv, 6-7 ; also Col. i, 16 ; Dan. iv, 34-35. 
 
 A comparison is most confidently invited between 
 these extracts, which might be continued to great 
 extent, and anything that ever was written in any 
 age and nation, not having the Bible. 
 
 55. As matters of fact we are quite able to compare 
 the system of Divine truth as revealed in the Holy 
 Scriptures with the different systems of religion which 
 do now exist ; or which in any prior age have existed 
 in the world. None who have the Bible are now 
 found to advocate the ancient or the modern supersti- 
 tions of heathenism. Modern infidelity indeed con- 
 tends for the sufficiency of human reason. The truths 
 of Divine Revelation, which the human mind in a long 
 course of ages had not discovered are now used and 
 boasted of, as the productions of enlightened reason. 
 If this were so, how did it happen that these truths 
 were known to the sages and philosophers, of Eygpt, 
 of Babylon, of Greece and Rome ? It is between the 
 writings of these sages and philosophers aided by 
 their consuls, their kings and their emperors on the 
 one side, and the writings of the shepherds, the herd- 
 men and the fishermen of Bethlehem, of Tekoa, and 
 of Gallilee on the other, that the comparison fairly 
 rests. Compare then the systems produced by this 
 array of wealth, human learning and intelligence, 
 with the truths of the Bible, and unless Divine In- 
 spiration be admitted, on no principle known to us 
 can we explain the difference.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 75 
 
 56. From the beginning to the end of the books of 
 the Old and New Testament we find " Holiness to the 
 Lord" written as with a sunbeam on every page; 
 most appropriately, indeed, when these records are 
 bound in one are they called the Holy Bible. There 
 we find that God is most Holy, that heaven is a holy 
 place, and all its inhabitants are holy ; that the law 
 of God is holy, that the road to heaven is a holy road, 
 and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 
 "And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, 
 holy, is the Lord God of Hosts ; the whole earth is 
 full of his glory." Isa. vi, 3. "Be ye therefore holy, 
 for lam holy." Ex. xi, 45. "God sitteth upon the 
 throne of his holiness." Ps. xlvii, 8. "And there 
 shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, 
 or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." Rev. xxi, 
 27. "For thus saith the High and the Lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell 
 in the high and holy place with him also that is of a 
 contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the 
 humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 
 Is. Ivii, 15. "Wherefore the law is holy; and the 
 commandment holy, and just, and good." Eom. vii, 12- 
 13. " Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 
 I Chr. xvi, 29. "And an highway shall be there, and 
 a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the 
 unclean shall not pass over it ; the wayfaring men, 
 though fools, shall not err therein." Is. xxv, 8. 
 
 The holiness and purity revealed in the Bible, and 
 thus required by all its precepts, afford the most 
 convincing and satisfying evidence of its heavenly 
 origin. Such a book cannot be the work of wicked 
 men, purity and holiness is the very opposite of all 
 they say or do. Neither can it be the work of good
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 men, because they would not attempt to deceive the 
 world by a fabrication. Infidelity has been so pressed 
 by these considerations, that its leaders have been 
 forced to deny the holiness of the Divine Record. 
 " The God of the Jews" says one " would be deemed 
 a very indifferent man with us." * " The religion of 
 the Jews, as taught by Moses, had presented for their 
 worship a being of terrific character, cruel, vindic- 
 tive, capricious and unjust." f With such deliberate 
 blasphemy reason has nothing to do. An appeal is 
 made to the Bible itself ; the extracts on this page 
 alone from the thousands in the Bible, set the 
 question at rest. 
 
 57. The Divine origin of the Holy Scriptures is 
 proved from their power and efficiency on the hearts 
 conduct of men. "He that believeth hath the 
 witness in himself." However unlearned, however 
 ignorant, every child of grace knows his Bible to be 
 true, and can tell you " Whereas I was blind, now I 
 see." The infidel hears this with supreme contempt ; 
 the feelings of a few deluded enthusiasts are unworthy 
 of his examination and regard. But it is not merely 
 a few of whom we thus speak. Tens and hundreds 
 of thousands, have in all ages given the same account ; 
 and amongst these are multitudes of superior learn- 
 ing and abilities, and of acknowleged integrity and 
 sober judgment ; and their professions have been 
 followed by a correspondent change of the outward 
 conduct, and a walk and conversation as becometh 
 the gospel. 
 
 The effects of the Bible on human society are 
 
 * Jefferson's Mem. Vol. 4, pp. 271, let. 130. 
 f Jefferson's Mem. Vol. 4, pp. 326, let. 153.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 77 
 
 equally evident. The spirit of its Divine precepts 
 gives to society its firmest bond and cement. Here 
 the marriage contract reposes on the principles of its 
 first institution ; and women, unnaturally degraded in 
 every heathen land, have been restored to their loved 
 and honored place in the family. Are these the 
 effects of a cunningly-devised fable ? Or rather are 
 not these things produced by the words of eternal life ? 
 
 The uncorrupted preservation of the books of the 
 Old and New Testaments. 
 
 58. In general the facts and arguments already 
 used to prove these books genuine and authentic, 
 prove also their uncorrupted preservation. But more 
 particularly the Hebrew Nation have in every age 
 regarded their sacred books with peculiar reverence. 
 Their own historians assert that no torments could 
 induce them to change a single letter.* In our 
 Saviour's time upon earth the nation was divided into 
 various sects, yet we do not find that they charged 
 each other with having corrupted their Scriptures. 
 The Pentateuch contained their constitution and 
 laws ; the book of Joshua recorded the division of 
 their possessions, and designated the boundaries of 
 the different tribes. In these books, forgery at first, 
 or alteration afterwards, was impossible. The book 
 of Psalms was in daily use in the temple worship ; the 
 proverbs of Solomon were in every cottage, in every 
 tent. While the temple worship continued, and the 
 nation existed in Palestine, in these books no altera- 
 tion could take place. In the historical records, the 
 parts humbling to their national pride would have 
 been first altered, if any alteration had been made ; 
 
 * Phi. a. lus. Ev. lib, 8, c. g, Jos. Con. Ap. lib. 1, 8.
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 but these parts, and they are numerous, are still there. 
 The Samaritan Pentaituch, the Chaldaic paraphrase, 
 and the Greek translation, were each a separate guard 
 against alteration. The prophets from Samuel to 
 Malachi were faithful reprovers of every sin ; yet 
 they say not a word of any conniption, either of the 
 historical, preceptive or prophetical books. To all 
 these considerations may be added, what is indeed of 
 itself conclusive, that Jesus Christ and his apostles 
 never bring any such charge against the Jews, but 
 repeatedly refer to these books as the oracles of 
 God, consisting of the Law, the Prophets and the 
 Psalms, Luke xxiv, 25-27, 44-46 ; Rom. iii, 2. 
 
 59. Since the Christian era, the books of the Old 
 Testament have been appealed to and reverenced both 
 by Jews and Christians. No alteration could have 
 been made by either without being detected by the 
 other. The Greek translation had been made 265 
 years before that period ; it was read by those Jews 
 who understood Greek, and by such Greeks as chose 
 to read it, in every part of the Roman Empire. In 
 the second century, if not in the first, these books 
 were translated into the Syriac and Latin, and in the 
 following centuries into various other languages. The 
 Hebrew manuscripts, amounting to above eleven hun- 
 dred in number, all agree with each other. Under all 
 these circumstances, alteration by design was imprac- 
 ticable and impossible. Mistakes in copying have 
 indeed taken place ; but a careful examination of the 
 different copies will always lead to true reading. 
 Thus we see : 
 
 1. That the Hebrew Scriptures were in the hands 
 of both Christians and Jews, and appealed to, and 
 reverenced, and guarded by each.
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 79 
 
 2. That a Greek translation existed in the days of 
 the apostles, and that translations into other languages 
 quickly followed. 
 
 3. That amongst the numerous manuscripts col- 
 lected from all parts of the world, there is an agree- 
 ment perfectly substantial. To these three consider- 
 ations nothing further need be added to prove that 
 the Old Testament has come down to us uncorrupted 
 and unaltered. 
 
 60. As it respects the books of the New Testamant, 
 this branch of the subject has been in a great meas- 
 ure anticipated. The facts and arguments adduced 
 (Nos. 14-27) to prove that the books of the New 
 Testament are genuine and authentic, prove also that 
 they have come down to us pure and uncorrupted. 
 It will not be contended that any alteration in these 
 books could take place during the lives of the writers; 
 and no historical fact is better established, than that 
 during their lives Christian churches were estab- 
 lished at Jerusalem, Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Damas- 
 cus, Antioch, and many other cities in every part of 
 the Roman Empire. In every church the public 
 reading and exposition of the Holy Scriptures was a 
 part of their stated worship. No alteration could 
 take place without the knowledge and acquiescence 
 of both teachers and people, and without consent on 
 the part of all the churches. For their future hopes 
 founded on their belief of the truth of these writings, 
 the primitive Christians suffered the loss of all things, 
 endured every species of persecution, and in thou- 
 sands of instances, death itself. Under all these cir- 
 cumstances, to suppose that all these churches would 
 themselves deliberately alter these writings, is impos- 
 sible and absurd.
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 61. The hostility of the Jews was co-eval with the 
 first rise of Christianity, and has continued to the 
 present day. If any change had been made in the 
 sacred books of the Christians, these bitter opponents, 
 as well as their heathen adversaries, would soon have 
 charged them with it. Various sects also soon made 
 their appearance in the Christian Church ; and 
 various heresies existed from the days of the apostles. 
 In all controversies with their different opponents, 
 the Christian Church appealed to the Scriptures as to 
 a perfect standard. With so many seeking occasion 
 against them, with so many continually watching to 
 do them hurt, with Jews, heathens and heretics on 
 every side, alteration or corruption in the record was 
 impossible. 
 
 62. Another satisfactory consideration arises from 
 the agreement of all the manuscripts of the New Testa- 
 ment, which have come down to us. Mistakes in copy- 
 ing exist in great numbers ; but in no one material 
 article do these mistakes make any alteration. The 
 worst manuscript extant would not pervert one doc- 
 trine, or destroy one moral precept. By a comparison 
 of these manuscripts with each other these mistakes 
 are discoverable, and scriptural criticism has already 
 in most cases restored the true reading. The agree- 
 ment of so many separate and independent witnesses 
 from all parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, proves that 
 the sacred pages have come down to us pure and un- 
 altered. 
 
 63. The agreement of the various translations of 
 the New Testament with each other, and with our 
 present Greek text, shows to a demonstration that 
 from the period when these translations were made, 
 no change has taken place in the original record. The
 
 DIVINE REVELATION. 81 
 
 Latin and Syriac translations were made in the second 
 century, if not in the first, as many learned men 
 believe, the Gothic, A.D. 400; the Egyptian, A.D. 
 500 ; the English, A.D. 700; the Persian, A.D. 900. 
 These dates are placed at periods when all admit that 
 these translations existed. As we descend towards 
 our own time many others were made ; and in the 
 year A.D. 1383, the art of printing placed the whole 
 Bible beyond the reach of alteration either from mis- 
 take or design. 
 
 64. The quotations of the Christian fathers, as far 
 as these quotations extend, afford clear and positive 
 testimony to the uncorrupted purity of the books of 
 the New Testament. Limiting this evidence to the 
 verses actually quoted, a great part of the New Testa- 
 ment, as we now have it, is proved from this source 
 alone. To notice this evidence in detail, would far 
 exceed the limits assigned to this work ; and a simple 
 reference to it is all that is here intended.
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS MISSIONS TO 
 EASTERN ASIA. 
 
 IN the earlier years of the Presbyterian Missions 
 it was a common usage for the Executive Committee, 
 through its secretary, to give farewell instructions or 
 counsels to new missionaries, when they were leaving 
 for their fields of labour, if their journey was to be 
 made by a sea voyage. Dr. Swift, secretary, made 
 addresses of this kind ; Mr. Lowrie, also ; both re- 
 peatedly. These were of general interest, and were 
 listened to by large congregations. 
 
 But with the change of travelling to steam naviga- 
 tion, most missionaries preferred to remain with their 
 friends at home until the latest hour of departure ; 
 and farewell services were usually conducted by their 
 pastor or neighbouring ministers. The elaborate ad- 
 dresses formerly made seemed to be seldom suited to 
 the occasion. In some cases, however, either method 
 answered a good purpose. It may be of interest 
 to insert here the address of Mr. Lowrie at a public 
 meeting in the Brick Church, New York City, when 
 the Rev. John A. Mitchell, of Charleston, S. 0., and 
 the Rev. Professor Robert W. Orr and his wife, of 
 Cannonsburgh, Penn., embarked for Singapore as 
 missionaries to the Chinese, December 6, 1838. 
 
 BELOVED BEETHKEN It is a subject of peculiar 
 interest to the Executive Committee of the Board of 
 Foreign Missions of the General Assembly, that one
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 83 
 
 of their first acts is to deliver instructions to the first 
 missionaries to China sent out by the Presbyterian 
 Church. If we take into view the immense number 
 of the Chinese people ; their general intelligence ; the 
 progress they have made in civilization ; the remark- 
 able fact, that not only the whole empire, but four 
 other adjoining nations, read one language ; and also, 
 that this entire population are "without Christ, 
 aliens from His Church, and strangers to the cov- 
 enants of promise, having no hope, and without God 
 in the world," the solemn duty of the Church to 
 send them the gospel will appear in a strong light. 
 In discharge of this duty, little, comparatively, has 
 been done by any branch of the Church ; and by our 
 beloved Zion, until now, nothing has been even 
 attempted. We rejoice that, in the good providence of 
 God, a mission from the Presbyterian Church to this 
 great but perishing people is prepared to embark, 
 to carry to them a knowledge of Redeeming Love. 
 May we not indulge the hope that in future her zeal 
 and resources will, in a measure, make up for our 
 past indifference, and that you, dear brethren, will 
 be followed by large numbers, continued and increas- 
 ing from year to year, till the whole empire of China, 
 and the nations reading her language, shall be made 
 to rejoice in the knowledge of the Saviour ! This re- 
 sult is in the promise and in the purpose of God, and 
 His power will bring it to pass. Our present efforts, 
 and those of sister churches who have preceded us, 
 and are now engaged in the same blessed work, may 
 be considered feeble and unimportant ; but all these 
 efforts are in accordance with the appointed means 
 for this very end, and are in obedience to the com- 
 mand of our blessed Lord. This is His plan : let
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 His churches and His missionaries see to it that they 
 become neither weary nor discouraged in His work. 
 We may not live to see the triumph of His cause 
 among the heathen, for we have all neglected our 
 duty in this great work; but the day is coming when 
 the churches will come up to the requirements of the 
 word of God, and then they will see and rejoice in 
 the final triumph of the cause of Christ ; when the 
 hearts of His people will be filled with joy and glad- 
 ness, to see the glory which will be to God in the 
 highest, in the general knowledge of the Redeemer's 
 name. 
 
 The first Protestant missionary to China was the 
 Rev. Dr. Morrison, a name most deservedly dear to 
 all the churches. He was sent out in 1807 by the 
 London Missionary Society, and laboured faithfully, 
 and, for a great part of the time, alone in preparing 
 the way for future labourers, till his death. The 
 labours of this great man, in translating the Bible 
 into the Chinese language, have been duly appre- 
 ciated by all, and especially by every missionary to 
 China. In part of these labours he was ably assisted 
 by Dr. Milne, who joined him in 1813 ; but his early 
 death, in 1822, left Dr. Morrison once more alone ; and 
 his life was graciously spared till these great works 
 were finished. 
 
 The London Missionary Societies have in this field 
 at present six missionaries ; the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions, including Singa- 
 pore, Java, Sumatra and Siam, seventeen ; the Epis- 
 copal Church in the United States, three ; the Amer- 
 ican Baptist Board, three; and the Church of England 
 Missionary Society, one. The whole number from all 
 these is thirty. How few the labourers in this great
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 85 
 
 field ! Surely the time has fully come, when the 
 churches should pray the Lord of the harvest to send 
 forth labourers into His harvest : and not pray only, 
 but also do the will of their Lord, in sending to this 
 perishing people the blessings they themselves so 
 richly enjoy. 
 
 The empire of China extends through twenty-one 
 degrees of latitude, and twenty-six degrees of longi- 
 tude. There is considerable difference in the es- 
 timates of the number of square miles by those 
 writers who are supposed to be best acquainted with 
 the subject. Taking the medium of their estimates, 
 China proper may be set down as containing a million 
 and a half, and the whole empire five millions of 
 square miles. Supposing this to be the most correct 
 estimate, it will be seen that this great empire is more 
 than one-fourth larger than all Europe, and is more 
 than five times the size of the twenty-six United 
 States. 
 
 The number of the population is also a matter of 
 much uncertainty, though all writers agree in stating 
 it to be very large. The best evidence on this subject 
 seems to be the enumeration of the Chinese them- 
 selves. Their census of 1793 gave a population of 
 307,000,000, and of 1812 of 360,000,000. 
 
 The government would be a pure despotism were 
 it not for some limitations and restrictions imposed 
 by custom on the emperor. He is considered the 
 source of all power and honour ; is styled the Son of 
 Heaven ; and is an object of worship throughout the 
 whole empire. Constant efforts are made by the gov- 
 ernment to impress the people with the belief that 
 all its principles are strictly patriarchal taken from 
 the model of a family, and conforming to it in all
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 respects. The emperor is said to be the father of his 
 whole people ; the same penalty is prescribed for 
 offences against each, and the same mourning at the 
 death of the emperor that there is at that of the 
 father of a family. 
 
 The emperor is assisted by various Boards at 
 Pekin, not unlike our heads of departments ; and, 
 under their direction, each province has a governor, a 
 judge and a collector ; and under these again are 
 various orders of Mandarins, amounting in the whole 
 empire to 14,000. 
 
 The standing army consists of 80,000 men, and 
 there are 700,000 militia, who receive a pittance of 
 pay. The navy, although numbering many vessels 
 and boats, is quite inefficient, and often unable to 
 subdue the pirates on the coast. 
 
 The penal code of China contains many excellent 
 provisions, expressed with great clearness and appro- 
 priate brevity. It is far in advance of that of any 
 other Eastern nation. Its defect is a too great minute- 
 ness in the attempt to regulate every circumstance in 
 common life. The great evil is in the administration, 
 affording another sad evidence, on a large scale, that 
 without the knowledge of the Bible, the rights of the 
 people, and truth and righteousness, are unknown. 
 
 The character of the Chinese is perhaps as favour- 
 able as that of any other civilized people who are 
 without God, and without a knowledge of His Word. 
 Though but a part of the population can read, the 
 readers are in every part of the empire, and 1 in this 
 respect, education is general. They are noted for 
 their industry, and for their business habits ; they 
 are remarkable for their respect for the aged, and 
 they possess a mild and peaceable disposition. But
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 87 
 
 alas ! here we must stop ; and describe other traits of 
 character truly painful. They care nothing for truth, 
 and are full of deceit ; their self-love and ignorance 
 make them proud, haughty and conceited, and all 
 but themselves are barbarians ; infanticide of female 
 children has long been extensively perpetrated 
 among them; and that universal mark of heathenism, 
 the degradation of woman, prevails throughout the 
 whole empire. The female infant is despised as soon 
 as she is born ; she is called even then a hated thing; 
 and through life the law, and all the maxims and 
 writings of their atheistical sages, are against her. 
 
 The religion of China is a strange mixture of 
 atheism and idolatry. Three sects exist there the 
 followers of Confucius, the Buddhists, and the Doc- 
 tors of Reason. 
 
 Confucius was born 550 years before the Christian 
 era. His writings are preserved with great care and 
 veneration ; in them are many excellent maxims, but 
 the good is intermixed with many things of the most 
 evil and pernicious tendency. He acknowledged that 
 he knew nothing about the existence of the gods, and 
 respecting them preserved silence. Con-foo-tze, his 
 most distinguished disciple, affirms that sufficient 
 knowledge was not possessed to say that the gods 
 had any existence ; but he saw no difficulty in omit- 
 ting the subject altogether. This doctrine of Confu- 
 cius is the established religion of the empire, and, 
 although its foundation thus reposes on atheism, 
 there is an expensive state worship, with many im- 
 posing forms. Sacrifices are offered at the public 
 expense to heaven to the emperor the earth sun 
 moon sages and other objects. The images and 
 objects of worship of the common people are without
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 number or description ; and the annual expense of 
 their idol worship is estimated by Dr. Morrison at 
 200,000,000 of dollars. 
 
 Buddhism is another form of their worship, but 
 this sect is merely tolerated. Which are the most 
 numerous in China, the followers of Buddha or of Con- 
 fucius is not known. But, if the adjacent countries 
 be taken into account, no form of heathenism is 
 so prevalent as Buddhism. At this day, more than 
 half the human family are led captive by this delu- 
 sion of Satan. In this system, atheism is a leading 
 feature. The god they acknowledge and worship is a 
 mere abstraction ; he is said to exist in a state of 
 eternal repose, caring for nothing, and without any 
 mental exercises whatever. They believe not in the 
 creation of the world, but in a succession of worlds ; 
 yet they profess to believe in a state of future re- 
 wards and punishments ; but these truths are so 
 mixed up with their fables of the metempsychosis of 
 the soul from one body to another that all salutary 
 influence on the conduct is lost. Not one ray of the 
 true light shines upon them. The whole system 
 makes the mass of the people more submissive to 
 their wretched and abandoned priesthood. There it 
 begins, and there it ends. 
 
 The Doctors of Reason constitute the third sect. 
 They are silent as to the being of a God, the immor- 
 tality of the soul, or a state of future rewards and 
 punishments. They are given to magic and alchemy, 
 and spend much of their time and thoughts in pur- 
 suit of the elixir of life. They are also called Taouists. 
 
 Among the great mass of the people, these three 
 sects are not very distinctly marked ; and many of 
 the superstitions of each are attended to by all. It
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 89 
 
 would indeed be difficult to describe the darkness, 
 confusion, and obscurity of their practice and be- 
 lief. 
 
 From this brief but melancholy survey of this 
 great empire may be seen how greatly it needs the 
 knowledge of the true God, and the way of salvation 
 through Jesus Christ. The millions of China are 
 perishing, and their dark and hopeless state calls 
 most earnestly on the churches for relief. In respond- 
 ing to this call, and in devoting your lives to their 
 benefit, it is proper for you, dear brethren, as well as 
 for the Board under whose direction you go, and the 
 churches whose missionaries you are, to know the 
 difficulties which will meet your efforts to carry the 
 gospel to them. It is, indeed, but an abstract of these 
 difficulties that can be presented here ; and you will 
 meet with others, unknown at present to us all. 
 
 1. The stern prejudices, and determined hostility, 
 manifested of late by the Chinese government against 
 the introduction of the gospel into China, present 
 an obstacle to all benevolent efforts in behalf of this 
 great people. These efforts must at present be made 
 at a distance, and of course under disadvantages. 
 But this obstacle, in the present state of Protestant 
 missions, has been greatly overrated. The super- 
 abundant population of China, overflowing the limits 
 of their native land, and finding resting-places in the 
 neighbouring countries and islands, afford many open- 
 ing fields for the churches to occupy, and where they 
 may prepare and qualify their missionaries to be in 
 readiness when God, in His providence, removes the 
 principal barriers. In the meantime all the brethren 
 sent out will be on missionary ground, labouring 
 among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who are
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 now perfectly accessible to their appropriate labours. 
 Were every barrier now removed, few more facilities 
 would exist for learning the language ; for providing 
 and conducting suitable schools and higher semina- 
 ries ; for raising up and instructing a native ministry ; 
 for translating the Scriptures and preparing other 
 suitable books ; and, in general, for using the mighty 
 agency of the press, than are now to be found. 
 
 2. Another discouraging circumstance is, that the 
 labourers are so few. Few, indeed, they are for so 
 great a work ! But let not this discourage our efforts; 
 rather let it increase them. The number is increasing 
 from year to year ; the evangelical churches are be- 
 coming awake to the importance of this great work ; 
 and, above all, the Lord of the harvest, in answer to 
 the prayers of His people, will send forth "labourers 
 into His harvest." 
 
 3. Another obstacle is the advanced position occu- 
 pied by the Church of Rome on the borders of the 
 empire, and, to some extent, even within its limits. 
 The whole of the Phillipine Islands, as well as Macao, 
 is under her control ; and to the importance of this 
 subject she is quite awake, and in a great measure 
 prepared with able men and abundant means to send 
 into the interior her adulterated form of the Christian 
 faith. Instead of discouraging this state of things 
 ought to engage the true churches to redoubled efforts. 
 Although the influence of this false religion exists 
 strongly in this field, it exists also in most other 
 fields, and it must be met by the Church of Christ, 
 let it exist where it may. This influence is indeed 
 pernicious, but its days are numbered, and it will 
 come to an end at the brightness of the coming of 
 the Lord.
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 91 
 
 4. When you come to teach the Chinese them- 
 selves, you will find their minds preoccupied by the 
 most contradictory and the most confused and absurd 
 notions of their own superstitions. You will find 
 atheism and idolatry existing in the same mind. If 
 you speak to them of Gfod, they will point to the vis- 
 ible heavens ; for thus their books teach them. The 
 providence of Grod is unknown to them ; and they 
 will tell you that the heavens, earth and the sages, 
 are united in the government of the world. If you 
 speak to them of virtue and vice, of sin and holiness, 
 you will find their views most indefinite and obscure. 
 These and many other things equally painful, and 
 which for a long series of generations have become, 
 as it were, part of their existence, will require of you 
 unremitting perseverance, faith and prayer, lest you 
 faint and grow weary in your work. 
 
 5. Their great veneration for their sages will meet 
 you as an obstacle at every step. They praise Con- 
 fucius in language similar to what we use in the 
 praise of Grod, our Maker. When you speak to them 
 of a crucified Saviour, to whom their emperors and 
 their sages are required to be in subjection, they turn 
 from the instruction with contempt and loathing. 
 "It is foolishness unto them," and so they literally 
 call it. 
 
 They are taught from infancy, and from age to 
 age, to think themselves superior to all other people. 
 Confucius and his disciples have in their writings 
 strongly inculcated this feeling ; it has become with 
 them a second nature, interwoven with all their 
 thoughts, and incorporated with their very language ; 
 and the government has at all times, for political 
 purposes, nourished and cherished it in all their
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 transactions with foreigners, and in every state paper 
 relating to them. 
 
 7. Much labour will be required in fully learning 
 the singular and difficult language of this people. It 
 is true, this has heretofore been greatly overrated ; 
 but it will still be found to require long and patient 
 application, to obtain a perfect knowledge of it. To 
 master this language fully, however, is an object 
 of so much importance, that the Executive Com- 
 mittee earnestly call your attention to this subject. 
 What is even at this time most wanted is a transla- 
 tion of the Bible into Chinese, which, while it faith- 
 fully preserves the spirit of the original, will use 
 such expressions and national idioms as are familiar, 
 and, as far as mere language is concerned, will be 
 acceptable to the people of China. The translation 
 made by Morrison and Milne has been found by suc- 
 ceeding missionaries to be deficient in the use of such 
 modes of expression as are in use in the Chinese writ- 
 ings. By some of the missionaries now in the field a 
 new translation was some time ago commenced, of 
 which the New Testament has been finished and 
 printed. Other missionaries, however, while they 
 admit that defects exist in the former translation, 
 have made objections to this, as going to the other 
 extreme, and in some places giving not a translation, 
 but a paraphrase of the original, by the use of the 
 Chinese idioms. The subject is one of acknowledged 
 difficulty, owing to the peculiar structure of the 
 Chinese language, and the great number of idioms in 
 it peculiar to itself ; but it lies at the foundation of 
 all our efforts in behalf of China ; and hence the 
 necessity of a perfect knowledge of the language. 
 Let these considerations stimulate and encourage you
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 93 
 
 in your efforts to attain this object. By these means 
 you may have the honour, in connection with mis- 
 sionaries from sister churches, of producing a trans- 
 lation that will be to China what our present trans- 
 lation is to us. 
 
 We have thus brought to your view some of the 
 difficulties that you will have to meet in your field of 
 labour. But, in view of these and of all others, of 
 whatever kind, we say to you, dear brethren, be not 
 discouraged. To this great work you go not forth 
 alone. You know who it is that hath said, "Lo, I 
 am with you always, even unto the end of the world." 
 Keep constantly in mind what God requires you to do, 
 and what it is that He has reserved to do Himself. 
 Your duty is clear, and, in humble dependence on His 
 grace, be faithful in the discharge of it. What more 
 can you want than the promise of the Saviour's pres- 
 ence ? What more can you possibly receive than His 
 company with you always ? If we could add anything 
 to this for your encouragement, we would remind you 
 that the glory of the Redeemer is here concerned. 
 The millions of China are promised to Him ; the day 
 is coming when in all her valleys and on all her 
 mountains, His name will be known and with sweet- 
 est sound dwell on every tongue ; and the means 
 which Grod has appointed to bring about this glorious 
 result, is the performance of those duties in which 
 you, and those who send you forth, are called upon 
 to engage. Nothing can be more certain than that 
 these efforts are in obedience to the Saviour's com- 
 mands ; that this is His plan for the extension of His 
 kingdom ; that He is with His servants always, even 
 unto the end ; that His glory will be promoted by the 
 heathen being brought into His fold; and, finally, that
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 this is His work, and He will bring it to pass. Let 
 these truths cheer you in your darkest hours. Your 
 trials may be severe, as you go in advance of others, 
 and your lives may be spent more in preparatory, 
 than in direct efforts for the heathen ; but even this 
 will not change the nature of the work itself, for this 
 part of the work must first be done ; and what is 
 accomplished by you will prepare the way for 
 others. 
 
 Until you shall have reached your field of labour, 
 and have made the examinations suggested in the 
 letter of instructions you have already received, the 
 ultimate location of the mission cannot be decided 
 on. At Singapore you will find a temporary resting- 
 place, affording you many facilities for learning the 
 language, and prosecuting the inquiries with which 
 you have been charged. In the permanent location 
 of the mission, care must be taken not to interfere 
 with any existing Protestant Mission ; and that there 
 be such numbers of Chinese in the vicinity as will 
 require not only your labours, but also those of some 
 of the other brethren who may follow you. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, dear brethren, let us 
 affectionately exhort you to take care of your own 
 souls. This admonition we would also take to our- 
 selves. If the Apostle to the Gentiles found it nec- 
 essary to be watchful and to take all care, lest, when 
 he preached the gospel to others, he himself should 
 be a castaway, how much more is it necessary for 
 each of us, who are so far behind him in conformity 
 to the holy image of our Lord, to examine carefully 
 what spirit we are of. "Not every one that saith 
 unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 95 
 
 which is in heaven." Without His love in our hearts, 
 though we speak with the tongues of men and of 
 angels, we are but as sounding brass or a tinkling 
 cymbal. We may have the gift of prophecy, and 
 understand mysteries and all knowledge, and still be 
 nothing. We may bestow our goods on charitable 
 objects ; we may endure the hardships and privations 
 of a missionary life, at home or abroad, we may even 
 give our bodies to be burned, but unless our motives 
 and our hearts are sanctified by the grace of God it 
 will profit us nothing. "Let us take heed then, 
 brethren, lest there be in any of us an evil heart of 
 unbelief in departing from the living God." But 
 whilst it is our sacred duty to take heed to these sol- 
 emn warnings in the Word of God, the example of 
 the same apostle affords us the most assured encour- 
 agement, and in his experience we see the fruits of a 
 holy life when he came to die. Before he left the 
 earth he speaks to us as from the vestibule of heaven, 
 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
 course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid 
 up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
 the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and 
 not to me only, but unto all them also that love His 
 appearing." 
 
 You are sent by the churches to make known the 
 riches of a Saviour's love to the perishing heathen. 
 But, whilst you point them to the "Lamb of God 
 which taketh away the sins of the world," remember, 
 beloved brethren, that He is your Saviour ; also that 
 to Him you must look for assistance, whilst engaged 
 in His service here ; and that on Him rests your own 
 hopes beyond the grave. Let your reliance on Him 
 be simple and entire ; and fear not to trust yourselves
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 wholly to Him in life and in death. Take Him 
 with you in the ship ; the great expanse of waters 
 over which you are called to pass are His ; and all 
 the storms and dangers of the mighty deep are under 
 His control. In your labours among the heathen 
 stand near the cross, and look to God in constant, 
 earnest prayer, for the blessing of the Holy Ghost, 
 whose work it is to apply to the soul the redemption 
 purchased by Christ. When all your labours are 
 done, and you are called to pass through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, fear not to trust the Saviour 
 then. He will meet you in that hour, and after death 
 you will still be where He reigns and controls all 
 things; "Seeing then that we have a great High 
 Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son 
 of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have 
 not a high priest which cannot be touched with the 
 feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempt- 
 ed like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore 
 come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may ob- 
 tain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 
 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good 
 comfort, be of one mind ; live in peace ! and the God 
 of love and peace shall be with you. Amen.
 
 FAEEWELL COUNSELS MISSION TO AFRICA. 
 
 THE Rev. Robert W. Sawyer and wife embarked 
 for Western Africa, October 6, 1841. The usual in- 
 structions were addressed to them by Mr. Lowrie, 
 secretary, in behalf of the Board: 
 
 DEAR FRIEKDS. The work of a minister of Jesus 
 Christ is the most momentous in which a human being 
 can engage. The best qualified may exclaim with 
 the apostle, "Who is sufficient for these things?" 
 In every field of labour Divine assistance is needed ; 
 and especially so, when the call of God is to labour 
 in the dark places of the earth, far away from the 
 sustaining influences of the churches of the living 
 God, and the company and fellowship of his minis- 
 ters and people. You, dear brother, have just been 
 ordained, by the proper judicatory of the church, 
 acting in the Saviour's name and by his authority. 
 You have been designated also by the agents of the 
 church, to go far hence unto the Gentiles, to speak 
 unto them that they may be saved ; to call them 
 away from their senseless idolatry, and to tell them 
 of the only true God, and of the love of Jesus, and 
 point them to Him as the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sin of the world. 
 
 One of the first sacrifices you are called to make is 
 to part from your friends and relatives, from father 
 and mother, from brothers and sisters, from those in 
 whose company you have lived so long, that their 
 endeared so'ciety has, in a manner, become a part
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 of your existence. This trial is so severe, so pain- 
 ful to flesh and blood, so desolating to the natural 
 feelings of the heart, that many of God's professing 
 people are unwilling to meet it. They cannot give 
 up a beloved son, they cannot thus part for life with 
 a beloved daughter. But the cause of Christ requires 
 this sacrifice, severe and painful as it is ; and when 
 the Saviour's glory is concerned, and the eternal 
 interests of perishing men, these light afflictions 
 which are but for a moment ought not to be even 
 named. 
 
 By your own free choice, and with the approba- 
 tion and sanction of the Executive Committee, West- 
 ern Africa has been selected as the field of your 
 future labours. A beloved brother has just fallen in 
 that field, and you have been appointed to supply his 
 place. This circumstance throws a more than ordi- 
 nary degree of solemnity over our present meeting. 
 It is a serious thing to be thus baptised for the dead. 
 But may we not hope that in as much as your 
 appointment has been made, after much prayer to 
 God for his direction, it will meet with his appro- 
 bation. 
 
 Every field of missionary labour has obstacles to 
 the efforts of the church and discouragements pecu- 
 liar to itself. In some "the man of sin opposeth 
 and exalteth himself above all that is called God or 
 is worshipped ; so that He as God sitteth in the 
 temple of God, shewing himself that He is God." In 
 others, the exterminating spirit of the false prophet 
 suspends the sword over every one that turns to the 
 light. Others, again, are prevented by an ignorant 
 despotism from hearing the truth ; and, in others, is 
 the influence of unhealthy climates. This last is the
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 99 
 
 case with Western Africa ; and this obstacle is a 
 serious one. Every branch of the Church which has 
 engaged in missionary labours there, has found it so. 
 In deciding, therefore, on what is duty, we are called 
 to examine the subject in the light of God's word, 
 and of His providence ; and above all, to look to Him 
 for wisdom and direction. 
 
 The first question to be examined is, shall this field 
 be abandoned, the missionaries now there with- 
 drawn, and the benighted inhabisants, excluded from 
 the efforts of the Church, be left to perish in ignor- 
 ance and sin ? 
 
 Let it be admitted, that to plant the Church in 
 Africa, will cause the death of some of God's servants. 
 If we take the example of the apostles for our guid- 
 ance, we will not find in this a sufficient reason for 
 leaving the millions in this country in the unmolested 
 possession of Satan. It cost Stephen and James their 
 lives to witness for the Saviour at Jerusalem ; and 
 Paul was "ready not to be bound only, but also to 
 die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 
 In view of the bonds and afflictions which everywhere 
 waited for him, he could say, "But none of these 
 things move me, neither count I my life dear unto 
 myf elf, so that I might finish my course with joy, and 
 the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
 to testify the gospel of the grace of God." It were 
 easy to multiply examples of the sufferings of the 
 apostles and first Christians, in their labours to build 
 up the church. In no instance did the fear of death 
 deter them from preaching the glorious gospel of the 
 Son of God. They were influenced by His Spirit, and 
 acted in view of His high and holy example. " Here- 
 by perceive we the love of God, because he laid down
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 His life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives 
 for the brethren." 
 
 There is a tendency in some minds to draw an 
 inference against the missiodary work from the death 
 of a missionary, which is not thought of in the death 
 of a minister among the churches at home. But this 
 position will not bear examination. Within a few 
 months, how large has been the number of beloved 
 brethren, most of them in the prime of life, who have 
 been called home from their labours ; yet no one 
 infers from these dispensations of Divine providence, 
 that it is not the duty of the church to use every 
 means to supply their places. Nay, all agree, that 
 for this purpose, increased efforts, and increased 
 prayer to the Lord of the harvest, together with a 
 deeper humility and repentance for her unfaithful- 
 ness become the special duty of the church in these 
 seasons of rebuke and affliction. These principles 
 apply in all their force to the death of our dear 
 brethren in the foreign field ; and the church is not 
 at liberty to apply one rule of duty in regard to her 
 ministers at home, and another rule to her ministers 
 abroad. The word of God makes no such distinction, 
 the field for her agency is the world. Although there 
 be a risk to human life, in sending to benighted 
 Africa the knowledge of the Saviour, his commission, 
 the spirit that was in Him, and the example of His 
 apostles require it to be done. In thus engaging in 
 the Lord's work, the Church is not making experi- 
 ments; she is but obeying the command of the 
 Saviour ; and if she persevere in carrying out His 
 commission, her success is just as certain as that her 
 Redeemer rose from the dead. The redemption of 
 Ethiopia, and her inbringing to the fold of Christ are
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 101 
 
 in the purpose of God ; and her very name is men- 
 tioned in His glorious promise. "Ethiopia shall 
 soon stretch out her hands to God." Ps. Ixvii. 31. 
 Now the word of God is explicit, that His purposes 
 of love and mercy, and all His promises shall be ful- 
 filled by the use of the appointed means. By the 
 preaching of the gospel all nations shall be brought 
 to the knowledge of the Saviour ; and Africa, though 
 long oppressed and trampled under foot, with her 
 benighted and degraded people, shall, by the blessing 
 of God, on this, His appointed agency, be brought to 
 the light and liberty of the children of God. 
 
 As the constitution of coloured men can endure the 
 climate of Africa better than white men, the question 
 may be asked, Why not commit the entire work to 
 them ? The answer to this is, that we have not got 
 suitable and qualified men of this class to take the 
 charge of this important work. If it be left to them, 
 the efforts to bless this benighted people must for the 
 present be postponed. Hence the absolute necessity 
 of educated and qualified white men. 
 
 But although the agency of white men cannot at 
 first be dispensed with, it is not required that the 
 whole missionary work be done by them. On the 
 contrary, there is so much that from the first can be 
 done by qualified assistants, that even with an equal 
 number of them the force of the mission would be 
 doubled. Hence it is the part of wisdom to employ 
 the agency of coloured men, as far as their qualifica- 
 tions will permit. At present, teachers and assistants 
 of this class can be obtained ; others of higher attain- 
 ments, men of piety and zeal for this great work, will 
 in time be prepared, both in this country and among 
 the natives, to take the burdeu of the missionary
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 work in Africa on themselves ; so that the blessings 
 of the gospel will be carried to this benighted land 
 chiefly by the agency of her own children. 
 
 The whole of the Western coast, from Sierra 
 Leone to the Sinoe River, had long been the mart of 
 the slave trade. First the British, and then the 
 American colonies arrested its progress on large sec- 
 tions of the coast ; but it was only within the last 
 year that the slave factories at the Gallinos and New 
 Cess were broken up. The whole country back of 
 these colonies has been the seat of this murderous 
 traffic, which to a large extent still continues. The 
 part of the coast lying between the Sinoe River and 
 Cape Palmas, and occupied by the Kroos, the Grand 
 Sesters, and the Grebos, has, for the most part, 
 escaped this dreadful scourge. No missionary has 
 ever resided among the Kroos, or the Grand Sesters 
 on the coast, or any of the tribes behind them. The 
 first station for the mission must, from the state of 
 the country, be on the coast. Every tribe in that 
 region is most anxious to have missionaries to reside 
 among them. 
 
 The Kroos living on the coast claim to be first 
 supplied before they will permit a station among 
 their neighbors more inland, who are equally de- 
 sirious of missionaries with themselves. In a short 
 time we hope to have another station, on the high- 
 lands in the Waw country, leaving the station on the 
 coast in the charge of the coloured members of the 
 mission. This point gained, we have good reason to 
 believe that the health of our brethren will not suffer 
 materially from the climate in the interior ; and that 
 we may then look forward to the permanent continu- 
 ance of the mission without more than ordinary risk
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 103 
 
 to the health and life of the brethren sent from 
 among ourselves. 
 
 By our last accounts from Africa, the mission 
 family now there had passed safely through the first 
 attack of fever, which is always the most dangerous, 
 and which, in this instance, proved fatal to one of the 
 brethren. The vessel that takes you out, carries also 
 a house prepared to be set up, and large enough to 
 accommodate two families. The vessel will touch at 
 Cape Palmas, and it is arranged, that Mr. Canfield 
 will proceed to the Kroo country, taking assistants 
 with him to set up the house when the materials are 
 landed. A boat will also be sent with you sufficiently 
 large to run between the station and either of the 
 colonies. It will most likely be best for you to re- 
 main at Cape Palmas until the building at Settra 
 Kroo is ready to receive you, or even longer, if that 
 be deemed best by yourself and the brethren there. 
 
 Whilst it is the duty of the church, and of all her 
 judicatories and her Board of Foreign Missions, as 
 well as of all her missionaries, while labouring for 
 the spread of the gospel, to mature the best plans for 
 carrying forward the work, it is equally the duty of 
 all to contemplate with awe and reverence, and with 
 deep humility, the Divine sovereignty, and to ac- 
 knowledge in all things the overruling providence of 
 God. Without His approval every plan and counsel, 
 however wise to human view, will be turned to fool- 
 ishness and disappointment. It becomes us, then, 
 to look to the word of God for direction, and to fol- 
 low the example of His servants as therein recorded 
 for our instruction. It is worthy of our imitation 
 how frequently the apostle to the Gentiles, though 
 commissioned by the Saviour himself, and living for
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 His glory, and labouring more abundantly than all 
 others, refers, in all his plans and purposes, to the 
 will of the Lord. "I must by all means keep this 
 feast that cometh in Jerusalem ; but I will return 
 again to you, if God will." Acts xviii. 21. "Making 
 request, if by any means now at length I might have 
 a prosperous journey, by the will of God to come 
 unto you." Rom. i. 10. "That I may come unto 
 you with joy, by the will of God, and may with you 
 be refreshed." Rom. xv. 32. "But I will come to 
 you shortly, if the Lord will." 1 Cor. iv. 19. "For 
 I will not see you now by the way ; but I trust to 
 tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit." I. Cor. 
 xvi. 7. "And this will we do, if God permit." 
 Heb. vi. 3. 
 
 Such also was the practice of the prophets. "And 
 the king said unto Zadoc, carry back the ark of God 
 into the city ; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the 
 Lord, He will bring me again and shew me both it and 
 its habitation. But if He thus say, I have no delight 
 in thee ; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seem- 
 eth good to him." 2 Sam. xv. 25-26. 
 
 "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river 
 Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, 
 to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little 
 ones ; and for all our substance. For I was ashamed 
 to require of the king a band of soldiers and horse- 
 men to help us against the enemy in the way ; because 
 we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of 
 our God is upon all them for good that seek Him ; 
 but His power and His wrath is against all them that 
 forsake Him. So we fasted and besought our God 
 for this ; and He was entreated of us." Ezra viii. 
 21-23.
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 105 
 
 " Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when 
 the the Lord commandeth it not." Lam. iii. 37. 
 
 "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed 
 as nothing, and He doeth according to His will in the 
 army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
 earth ; and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, 
 What doest Thou ? " Dan. iv. 35. In everything we 
 do, therefore, in the Saviour's service, it becomes us 
 to act under the influence of these solemn truths, and 
 in all our proposed measures, follow the example of 
 the prophets and apostles, saying, If tlie Lord will. 
 
 In contemplating your field of labour, whilst we 
 would not disguise from you, nor from ourselves, that 
 it is of more than ordinary peril to life and health, 
 still it is not required that you go there with the 
 spirit of a martyr ; but with the spirit of a missionary 
 of the cross, whose wish and desire is to labour in 
 the Saviour's cause, as long as the Saviour sees good 
 to prolong your life and health. If there be danger 
 in this field, there is also great need of labourers. 
 Generation after generation of immortal beings are 
 there living and dying under the cruel dominion of 
 Satan. There is a people for whom every thing 
 remains to be done, a people who have had a double 
 portion of the wormwood and the gall. 
 
 Let us pause a moment to consider and weep over 
 the complications of evil and oppression which trample 
 this people in the dust. First, the blasting influence 
 of the slave trade, extending over a great part of the 
 western coast, breaking up every bond of society, 
 arraying the different communities against each other, 
 and making it the interest of every man to quarrel 
 with his neighbour, that he may betray and sell him 
 to the man-stealer and the pirate. Next the despot-
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 ism and oppression of their rulers, by which almost 
 the whole community are reduced to slavery, and 
 subjected to the caprice, avarice and cruelty of those 
 who ought to protect and cherish them. Then comes 
 their miserable and unprincipled priesthood, their 
 fetish men, their witch-finders, their devil-men, their 
 rain-makers, with all their train of debasing and cruel 
 forms of worship, and low unmeaning idolatry. We 
 turn to the darker shades of the picture, and there 
 we find poor, degraded woman. No plague spot so 
 deep as this. Here is half the community, the moth- 
 ers of the rising generation, brutalized, and doomed 
 to the most abject depression, where all are depressed 
 and wretched. But the darkest shade still remains 
 to be considered, and that is the closing scene. To 
 them no ray of light breaks across the thick darkness 
 that rests upon the grave. Death is to them a most 
 dreaded and most dreadful enemy, and from his ap- 
 proach they shrink with terror and despair to the 
 last. Nor is this to be wondered at, for he comes to 
 them in unknown terrors. The love of a dying Sav- 
 iour has never reached their ears ; the message of 
 mercy, of pardon for sin, of peace with God, has 
 never been sent to them. They have lived in the 
 region and shadow of death, and they die surrounded 
 with terror and remorse, with every prospect shrouded 
 in the darkness of the tomb. O, how much this peo- 
 ple need the knowledge of that remedy which has 
 the promise of this life and that which is to come. 
 How emphatically to them would the message of the 
 gospel be good- tidings of great joy ! 
 
 And now, dear brother and sister, the providence 
 of God has opened the way for you to engage in the 
 great work which brought the Saviour to our world.
 
 FAREWELL COUNSELS. 107 
 
 No privations or sufferings of His followers can equal 
 His while fulfilling His Divine mission. The trials 
 you may be called to endure, cannot be compared 
 with His in the garden of Gethsemane, when His 
 sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down 
 to the ground. Should you even be called to an early 
 death, it will not compare with His on the cross, and 
 His contest there with the powers of darkness. You 
 may indeed be called " to fill up that which is behind 
 of the afflictions of Christ, in your flesh for His body's 
 sake, which is the Church ; " but even then, you have 
 His blessed promise, that "he will never leave you 
 nor forsake you." You will find it profitable, and so 
 will all His followers, to review and meditate upon 
 the terms of discipleship, as laid down by our Lord 
 Himself. ' ' The disciple is not above his master, nor 
 the servant above his lord. It is enough for the dis- 
 ciple to be as his master, and the servant to be as his 
 lord. He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he 
 that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that 
 loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy 
 of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than 
 me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not up his 
 cross and f olloweth not after me, is not worthy of me. 
 If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, 
 and take up his cross daily and follow me." 
 
 Just as you live under the influence of these re- 
 quirements, will you find the sustaining presence of the 
 Saviour. Should it be the will of Gfod that your con- 
 stitution can bear the climate to which you go, there 
 never was a brighter prospect of usefulness than is 
 now before you. Dark and waste and dreary as are 
 the moral desolations of the people to whom you are 
 sent, there is not, perhaps, anywhere a more interest-
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 ing field of missionary labour ; and as far as the in- 
 habitants are concerned, one that is more encourag- 
 ing. They are found to be of a teachable disposition, 
 and many of them affectionate and confiding ; and 
 when brought to the knowledge of the truth, consist- 
 ent and orderly professors of the name of Christ. 
 Among the tribes on the coast, and those immediately 
 inland, there is a great field of labour and much work 
 to be done ; but our Master's vineyard lies also be- 
 yond all these, stretching far into the interior, and 
 indeed embracing every tribe and people, whether 
 wandering in the deserts, dwelling in cities, or soli- 
 tary places, in the bosom of the forests, or on the 
 banks of the lakes and rivers. All these are included 
 in the command of the Saviour to the Church, and all 
 these are included in his purposes of love and mercy. 
 The way is fully open to commence the missionary 
 work among them ; and the progress of the truth 
 from tribe to tribe, will still further and further pre- 
 pare the way of the Lord, till the good news shall 
 reach the most remote and obscure corner of the land. 
 
 Go forward, then, dear friends, without despond- 
 ency. Present duty is our concern, and results be- 
 long to God. Live near the blessed Saviour. "Let 
 your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; 
 and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for 
 their Lord." In the prayers of God's people we 
 trust you will not be forgotten ; and whilst in the 
 name of the Church we bid you God speed, whilst we 
 say farewell, we would with adoring reverence com- 
 mend you to the care and keeping of the living God ; 
 and may his grace, mercy and peace be with you ! 
 Amen.
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY SECBETARYSHIP. 
 
 PRIOR to Mr. Lowrie's official connection with the 
 cause of missions, his attention had been called to this 
 subject, not only by his own study of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures and his acquaintance with missionary informa- 
 tion in general, but by what may be called special 
 orderings of Providence. One of these was that one 
 of his brothers-in-law had been led to go as a lay 
 missionary to an Indian tribe, but there soon lost his 
 health and returned to his friends. For the sake of 
 medical aid he came to the town of Butler, and soon 
 after died in his brother-in-law's house. The second 
 was his practical knowledge of African questions, in 
 our country and in Africa, acquired in Washington. 
 He became acquainted also with missionaries to west- 
 ern Africa Messrs. Pinney, Cloud, and Laird, the 
 first missionaries to Liberia a noble company. The 
 third, beginning in 1830-31, when his eldest son con- 
 sulted his father and mother, as to the great question 
 to him, whether he ought to go as a missionary ? 
 
 The brief remarks made at the farewell meeting in 
 Philadelphia, 1833, and later matters, probably di- 
 rected the attention of many persons in the churches 
 to Mr. Lowrie as a corresponding secretary of the 
 Western Foreign Missionary Society, of the Synod of
 
 110 _MEXOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 Pittsburg, in 1835, to succeed the first secretary, the 
 Rev. Dr. E. P. Swift, in the event of his resignation. 
 This appointment was afterwards made, but he felt 
 constrained to decline it. A year later, in August, 
 1836, when this appointment was urgently renewed, it 
 appeared to be his duty to accept it with the under- 
 standing that he should enter upon its duties when 
 his official engagements in Washington could be 
 closed. 
 
 In a secular point of view this change would hardly 
 be considered an enviable one. The office in Washing- 
 ton was then regarded as one of the most desirable in 
 the federal city, in its sufficient salary, its personal 
 associations, and its not being subject to political 
 changes. A few years later it was understood, in a 
 limited circle, that the office of Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury of the United States was at his option. If so, it 
 must have been on full acquaintance, as the President 
 had known him for several years. They had been in 
 the senate together, and. a part of the time also mem- 
 bers of the Standing Committee of Finance. But the 
 decision had been made. And over thirty years of 
 longer life confirmed the conviction that the mission- 
 ary secretaryship had been appointed from on high. 
 Its opportunities of serving our Saviour in the promo- 
 tion of His cause were rightly appreciated. 
 
 This office was accepted, however, at a time of 
 great perplexity. Serious controversies existed be- 
 tween the old and the new school parts of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, tending to the separation, which 
 afterwards occurred. The cause of foreign missions 
 was not much affected at first by these dissensions ; 
 but for a time it was feared that great evils would re- 
 sult from extreme measures. Mr. Lowrie was in
 
 . THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. HI 
 
 sympathy with the views commonly taken of con- 
 troverted questions in western Pennsylvania, where 
 but little mere party feeling existed on church ques- 
 tions ; but where the Western Foreign Missionary 
 Society was awakening much interest in the cause of 
 foreign missions, in which he felt the deepest concern. 
 The scriptural principle, that the work of missions at 
 home and abroad appertains to the organized church, 
 and not chiefly nor incidentally to voluntary societies, 
 was recognized by the first general assembly, in 1789, 
 and by synods and presbyteries long before that time. 
 This principle was not held by all in later days ; but 
 it is now recognized by the reunited church, and it 
 is remarkably verified in the great enlargement of its 
 foreign missions. 
 
 In the choice of the Secretary of Foreign Missions, 
 the Synodical Society was greatly favored by Divine 
 Providence as to its first incumbent, the Rev. E. P. 
 Swift, D. D. ;* and also in its second appointment, 
 the Hon. Walter Lowrie, succeeding Dr. Swift. 
 Of the General Assembly's Board, he became the 
 first secretary. In both cases it was of great moment 
 that the right men should be appointed, possessing 
 eminent ability, earnest consecration, large expe- 
 rience, and the full confidence of the Church. Such a 
 minister was Dr. Swift ; such an elder was Mr. Lowrie. 
 The former, by his eminent gifts and grace, was earn- 
 estly sought again for the pulpit, after the new 
 society had been well begun. The latter, by his 
 varied gifts in business lines, by a deep religious 
 experience, and by his standing in the churches, was 
 evidently called to the great work of his life, lasting 
 
 * See Dr. Ashbel Green's History, pp. 106-110.
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 until old age, after thirty years of missionary service. 
 How different would have been their record if they had 
 been different men men of younger years, for exam- 
 ple, of less judgment, of less sterling common sense, of 
 less industry, and especially of less devoted piety. 
 
 YEAES OF SPECIAL INTEREST. 
 
 The years 1835-1837 were years of special interest 
 in the Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. 
 The Western Foreign Missionary Society had con- 
 sented to its being transferred to the General Assembly 
 in 1835. The refusal of the General Assembly, by a 
 close vote, to accept this transfer in 1836, led the 
 society to resume its charge of the missions, after 
 serious inconvenience. But these painful events were 
 overruled by Divine Providence and by the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit, so as to promote a deeper interest 
 in the cause of missions, in conducting its organized 
 work as a Church. 
 
 Accordingly the General Assembly of 1837 was led 
 to organize its Board of Foreign Missions. By this 
 Board the missions of the Society were cordially 
 accepted, including its valuable property free from any 
 encumbrance, with its income, and all its interests. 
 All were accepted in the same year by the Board, with 
 due legal forms. The missionaries thus transferred 
 to the Board had been sent to certain Indian tribes, 
 Western Africa, North India, and partly commenced 
 in Siam and China. A goodly number of missionaries 
 had been sent forth. Among them five devoted 
 labourers three ministers and two married ladies 
 had been called to their rest in heaven. 
 
 The income of the Society had increased each year,
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 113 
 
 from $5,331.60, May 1st, 1833, to $33,560.26, May 1st, 
 1838. Its bequests in the same period from $100.00 to 
 81,034.88. The balance then on hand and made over 
 to the Board, beginning its income, was $3,107. It 
 is remarkable that the receipts of the Society's last 
 year, so far as ascertained, exceeded the amount given 
 to foreign missions in the same year by all other 
 agencies, old and new, of the Presbyterian body. 
 The time had come for testing more fully the principle 
 and the plan of Church work in missions. 
 
 OFFICES OF THE BOAED EEMOVED TO NEW YORK. 
 
 The practical work of changing the headquarters 
 of the missions was facilitated by a recent measure of 
 the W. F. M. Society of Pittsburgh its organizing 
 certain "Boards of Agency" in leading cities Balti- 
 more, Louisville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Phila- 
 delphia, and New York. The Board of Agency in 
 New York was effectively organized, and would prob- 
 ably have become the General Board of the Old School 
 part of the Church, if difficulties had continued in 
 the General Assembly. The Agency Boards answered 
 good purposes, in promoting interest in the cause of 
 missions, but were discontinued when the G. A. 
 Board was organized by the Assembly, and transferred 
 to an eastern city. In New York the Agency Board 
 held its session in the Chapel of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, in Wall street, in the Brick Church, or in 
 Cedar street and Duane street Lecture Kooms from 
 time to time. Eminent ministers and elders were 
 appointed on these agencies. 
 
 When the Board of the General Assembly was 
 removed to New York, its first meeting was held in
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 the Wall street chapel. It rented for its office the 
 one-half of a somewhat large room in the Brick Church 
 chapel, fronting on the City Hall Park. The other half 
 being occupied by the N. Y. Colonization Society. 
 This half room was entirely inadequate. A third 
 story of No. 247 Broadway, opposite the park, was 
 then rented; but in the absence of "elevators" was 
 found to be inconvenient, particulurly as to freight 
 for shipment to the missions. Rooms in City Hall 
 Place, near the park, were then obtained; but lacked 
 both space and light for the growing work of the 
 Board. Most grateful to all, occupants and visitors, 
 was the Mission House, 23 Centre street, still near the 
 park. This good building was erected in 1842, at a 
 cost of nearly $22,000 contributed chiefly by friends 
 in New York, but also in many parts of the country. 
 It sold some years afterwards for $75,000. Its site had 
 become unsuitable. It had the great merits of being 
 "down town," near the Post Office, Custom House, 
 shipping and other business houses, and easily ac- 
 cessible from near and far. 
 
 In this location the Board followed the example 
 of some of the leading Missionary Boards in London, 
 which are near the Bank of England. When New 
 York includes Brooklyn and other municipalities, and 
 becomes the "Greater New York," the question may 
 arise whether the Board should not remove its offices 
 again to the vicinity of the City Hall Park. And then 
 it may be wise to occupy exclusively, as formerly, a 
 smaller building. 
 
 Looking forward still further, to a re-united Church, 
 and to a still growing West, including the Pacific 
 States, it may become expedient to organize two or 
 three Foreign Mission Boards, with proper reference 
 to the existing Providential circumstances, and to
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. H5 
 
 due economy in expense, as well as to the efficient 
 conduct of the Missions. 
 
 VISIT TO SOUTHERN CHURCHES. 
 
 In the early circumstances of the Board, it was 
 considered expedient for the secretary to spend several 
 winter months of 1842 on a visit to churches in the 
 Southern States. He was everywhere received with a 
 cordial welcome, and with good results to the mission- 
 ary cause. One case of special interest occurred 
 about this period, which made him temporarily a slave- 
 holder. A liberal gentleman in New Orleans had 
 decided to give all his slaves their liberty. They 
 were about a hundred in number. There were legal 
 difficulties to be overcome. Besides, this gentleman 
 felt the importance of their being prepared for liberty 
 and self-support. He was already taking steps in this 
 direction, having selected two of the young men to be 
 educated at his charge, one as a teacher, the other as a 
 doctor, at some college in the North, if this were 
 practicable. His acquaintance with Mr. Lowrie, when 
 he was in New Orleans, and the knowledge of his 
 public life in Washington, led to his conferring with 
 him on the subject which he had so much at heart. 
 It was settled that the two young men should be sent 
 to him without change in their legal condition, and 
 then] he should obtain for them the kindly charge of 
 their education at some good college, after his giving 
 them their freedom, being furnished with suitable 
 credentials for this purpose. These measures were 
 accomplished. The slaves received their freedom ; 
 the young men their education ; unhappily not as 
 complete as was hoped for, owing to their lack of 
 energy.
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWEIE. 
 
 On this southern journey, in a severe winter, owing 
 to unavoidable exposure in those days, not a little 
 danger to health was incurred. On a part of the way 
 he had been accompanied by Mrs. Lowrie, his second 
 wife, Miss Mary K. Childs, with whom he had become 
 acquainted in Washington. She now made an ex- 
 tended visit to her married brother's family, Mr. 
 Otis Childs, of Springfield, Mass., living in Georgia. 
 She earnestly sympathized with her husband in his 
 devotion to the cause of missions ; and greatly en- 
 deared herself to his family, as well as to the numer- 
 ous missionaries who for many years accepted their 
 hospitality. 
 
 MISSION FUNDS FAITHFULLY APPLIED. 
 
 In the Annual Report of 1842, page 26, a clear and 
 valuable statement is made to show how the Board 
 secures complete responsibility in the expenditure of 
 all moneys entrusted by the churches to its charge. 
 After stating on pages 24 and 25 the various objects 
 in the work of missions for which pecuniary means 
 are indispensable, the Report proceeds : 
 
 "Here it may not be improper to notice an aspect 
 of the Foreign Missionary cause connected with the 
 foregoing remarks. What assurance, it may be 
 asked, have those who make these contributions that 
 they will be faithfully applied ? What responsibility 
 exists for the proper disbursement of large sums, in 
 places so distant, and by so many individuals ? These 
 questions are pertinent and important, and ought to 
 be distinctly and fully answered. This will best be 
 accomplished by a simple exposition of the course 
 now employed. 
 
 "All donations by churches, societies, and in-
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 117 
 
 dividuals, are charged to the Treasurer on the books 
 of the office, and published in the Missionary Chron- 
 icle ; and no money is paid but on appropriations 
 made by the Executive Committee. 
 
 "The expenses at home are kept under distinct 
 heads, and published in the report of the Treasurer 
 at the end of the year. 
 
 " For the missions abroad detailed estimates, made 
 out carefully by the missionaries, in view of their 
 wants and circumstances, are sent home in advance, 
 which are approved or modified by the Committee, 
 according to the prospect of receipts for the coming 
 year. By these estimates the wants and prospects of 
 all the missions are brought before them ; and it is an 
 important part of their duty to dispose of them to the 
 best advantage. It ought to be here noted, that every 
 mission, and every proposed enlargement, pass every 
 year under the supervision and control of the Board 
 and the General Assembly, thus leaving to the Com- 
 mittee but the details of the work. When the esti- 
 mates are returned, the missionaries know the amount 
 they may expect to receive during the year, unless 
 the receipts enable the Committee to forward 
 additional sums, where they are wanted. 
 
 " Every remittance made is charged to the Treas- 
 urer of each mission respectively, on the books of the 
 office ; and a detailed statement of the expenditures, 
 at stated periods, properly examined and certified by 
 the whole mission, is sent to the office. It is then 
 examined by the Committee, and entered on the 
 books of the Treasurer. If any item requires expla- 
 nation, which rarely occurs, it is immediately asked 
 for. 
 
 " By this procedure the whole amount received is
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 accounted for. The whole expenditure, with all its 
 details, is recorded, and an inspection of the books 
 will show, how every dollar and every cent has been 
 expended, by whom, and for what purpose. No 
 department of the civil government has a system of 
 more exact accountability ; no mercantile house has 
 more certainty and clearness in its receipts and pay- 
 ments. It is true, that to effect these results, care 
 and labour are required ; but the example set by Ezra 
 and his companions teaches us, that the most exact 
 account should be kept of the funds of the Church. 
 Ezra, viii. 24-34." 
 
 EXTEACTS FROM ANNUAL REPORTS. 
 
 The Annual Reports of a Missionary Board are 
 important documents. They may be regarded as 
 missionary "state papers." They may well be 
 referred to in these memoirs, especially when they 
 relate to the early years of the Society or Board. 
 
 The first four of these Reports were written, all 
 but the last, and it chiefly, by the Rev. Dr. Elisha P. 
 Swift, Secretary of the Western Foreign Missionary 
 Society, and bear ample witness to his ability and 
 admirable Christian character. These Reports are 
 for the years 1833-36. The Report of 1836 from May 
 1st, and the Report of 1837, of the W. F. M. Society, 
 the fifth of its series, were written by Mr. Lowrie, as 
 well as the subsequent Annual Reports for many 
 years of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly. For particulars of the first five 
 reports see Dr. Ashbel Green's Presbyterian Missions. 
 
 In the First Report of the Board to the General 
 Assembly, 1838, Mr. Lowrie wrote: "It is for the
 
 TEE WOEK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. H9 
 
 judicatories of the Church to take the oversight of 
 this great interest. The brethren among the heathen 
 can be formed into Presbyteries under the direction 
 of the proper Synods ; and when the number of 
 Presbyteries make it expedient, the General 
 Assembly can form them into one or more Synods in 
 connection with itself. 
 
 " Other branches of missionary labour will consist 
 in translating and printing the Bible, and religious 
 tracts and publications ; and when practicable taking 
 the oversight of common education, and in all cases 
 giving it encouragement. These duties may vary in 
 their relative importance according to the circum- 
 stances of the different missions, and the calls and 
 openings of Divine Providence ; and the extent to 
 which they may do so must be left to the judgment 
 and discretion of the missionaries, under the general 
 direction and advice of the Board." Report 0/1836. 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BOARD. 
 
 "If there were but a single church, or a few churches 
 near each other, engaged in sending one or more mis- 
 sionaries, nothing more would be needed than their 
 thus engaging in the work. But if the churches will- 
 ing to be thus engaged are numerous, then an inter- 
 mediate agency is found most convenient to transact 
 the business between these united churches and the 
 missionaries, and to be the principal medium of com- 
 munication between both. This medium of communi- 
 cation is found in the Missionary Society [or the 
 Board]. But it is of vital importance to bear in 
 mind, that the members of the Missionary Board are 
 not the principals in this matter; they are themselves
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 but the agents of the churches, appointed by them, 
 responsible to them ; and should they neglect their 
 duty, may be, and ought to be, displaced and others 
 appointed in their stead. The missionaries sent out 
 are not their missionaries, but belong to the churches 
 sending them and supporting them with their funds, 
 and sustaining their hands by their prayers. This 
 control over the Missionary Society, or Board, by the 
 churches, can be efficiently exercised, where the 
 organization of the Society is ecclesiastical. If an 
 evil exists in the management of the institution, the 
 remedy is easy. The Church, through the General 
 Assembly, can remove the whole Board, and commit 
 the trust to the hands of others." Annual Report, 
 1837. 
 
 MISSIONARIES MESSENGERS. 
 
 "Every foreign missionary is a messenger sent by a 
 church, or by churches, to carry to the heathen, or un- 
 evangelized, the gospel of the risen Saviour. This 
 simple proposition involves some very important and 
 peculiar relations between the missionary abroad and 
 the Church at home ; and on these relations some of 
 the most important and vital principles, in conduct- 
 ing the missionary operations, will be found to depend. 
 
 "On the part of the missionary, this relation re- 
 quires that he give himself entirely to the work ; that 
 he receive instructions from the Church, in reference 
 to his field of labour, and his duties in that field ; 
 that he is to keep the Church advised of his progress, 
 of his encouragements, and of his discouragements ; 
 that he is to use with all economy and discretion the 
 funds put into his hands ; and further that he is to 
 preach the same gospel to the heathen which the
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 121 
 
 Church at home receives. On the part of the Church, 
 this relation requires that they furnish their messen- 
 ger with a comfortable support ; that they see to it 
 that he be sound in the faith, lest instead of truth he 
 disseminate error among the heathen. Above all it is 
 the duty of the Church, 'with one accord,' to bear 
 their messenger daily before a throne of grace, that 
 having performed the part of the human agency, they 
 may look for the blessing of the Holy Ghost sent 
 down from heaven, to rest upon the labours of their 
 missionary." Annual Report, 1836. 
 
 PEEACHING THE GOSPEL BY NATIVE CONVEETS. 
 
 "The first instruction to be given to all mission- 
 aries is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. To the 
 Jew this may be a stumbling-block, and to the Greek 
 foolishness, but to them which are called, both Jews 
 and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom 
 of God. Let no Missionary Society place any other 
 agency above that of the living preacher, lest they be 
 found wise above what is written. 
 
 "Next to the direct preaching of the gospel, the 
 attention of the missionaries must be strongly called 
 to the importance of rightly using all proper human 
 means for raising up a qualified native ministry. On 
 this part of the subject it is believed that a serious 
 mistake has existed, even in the minds of most de- 
 voted friends of foreign missions. The agency of a 
 native ministry has been overlooked, and the most 
 pressing calls have been made on the churches to 
 supply pastors, and provide for their support, for the 
 whole heathen world. But in the experience of every 
 Missionary Society, no truth is more clearly indicated
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 than that the conversion of the heathen must be 
 effected principally by ministers from the heathen 
 themselves. An experienced missionary writing from 
 Africa says, 'You may as well attempt to supply 
 the people with bread from England and the United 
 States, as to supply them with all the ministers they 
 want.' Another writing from India says, 'Did a 
 native missionary possess the same knowledge and 
 the same grace as a European, he would be worth ten 
 Europeans. In knowledge of the language, in access 
 to the natives, in capacity for enduring the heat of 
 the climate, in the expense of his education and sup- 
 port, and in the probability of the continuance of his 
 life, there is no comparison.' This view of the sub- 
 ject is abundantly sustained by many others most 
 experienced in the work of preaching the gospel in 
 person to the heathen. Such also we find was the 
 practice of the first missionaries, when they went out 
 from Jerusalem to make known the Gospel to all the 
 world. In following their example in this and in all 
 other matters, no Missionary Society need fear any 
 mistake." Annual Report, 1837. 
 
 MISSIONARIES IN CHINA. 
 
 The first missionaries to the Chinese, Rev. Messrs. 
 Mitchell and Orr, and Mrs. Orr, were not permitted 
 to continue in their chosen work, by reason of death 
 in one case and illness in the other. They surely 
 gained a blessed reward of their sacred purpose. The 
 faith of the Missionary Board's Executive Committee 
 and its secretary did not fail, nor the interest of the 
 churches in the projected mission. Moreover, quite 
 a number of excellent young ministers were led by
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 123 
 
 the Holy Spirit to offer their services for this still un- 
 occupied field of labour. Prior to, and in, 1844, the 
 Rev. Messrs. Walter M. Lowrie, M. Simpson Culbert- 
 son, Thomas L. McBryde, John Lloyd, Hugh A. Brown, 
 Andrew P. Happer, Augustus W. Loomis, Richard 
 Q. Way, and two medical missionaries, James C. 
 Hepburn, M.D. and D. Bethune McCartee, M.D. ; five 
 of them were married. Ordained missionaries were 
 also sent to China in later years, until this country is 
 now the largest mission-field of our Church, as it is 
 also in population. Among the missionaries have 
 been some of the ablest men in the Presbyterian 
 ministry, as also is the case in other missions. All 
 the ordained missionaries of the Board are appointed 
 after the special recommendation of their respective 
 Presbyteries. One of the men who may be specially 
 mentioned was the Rev. M. Simpson Culbertson, 
 D.D. His acknowledged standing at the U. S. Mili- 
 tary Academy would have led to his eventually tak- 
 ing rank as one of the chief generals of our armies, 
 some years later, if he had remained at home ; but in 
 answer, as we may believe, to his widowed mother's 
 prayers, he was led to go from the U. S. Army in 
 1841 to Princeton, and thence in 1844 to Ningpo and 
 Shanghai. His death, after eighteen years of mission- 
 ary life, in the forty-fourth year of his age, was a 
 great loss to the mission ; but he never regretted his 
 consecration to this service. 
 
 Of the early missionaries to China, the Rev. 
 Walter M. Lowrie, the third son of the secretary, 
 may also here receive special mention. He went to 
 China in 1842, in the twenty-third year of his age, 
 after having received the usual collegiate and theo- 
 logical seminary education and ordination by the
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIK. 
 
 Second Presbytery of New York. Of first honours, 
 and valedictorian at college, he was yet so unas- 
 suming, so attached to his family and to his friends, 
 and so full of life and energy, as to be a great 
 favourite among them all. By direction of the Board, 
 on his arrival at Macao, he embarked for Singapore, 
 to aid in transferring the work there to China. On 
 this voyage the ship was wrecked on a submerged 
 rock, and, though a fine vessel with an able captain, 
 he and the crew, with a few passengers, barely made 
 their escape in two small boats. They found them- 
 selves four hundred miles from land, and poorly sup- 
 plied with water and provisions. Almost incredible 
 danger and suffering were encountered before they 
 reached Manila all saved but four men out of twenty- 
 nine. The narrative of this shipwreck in his memoir 
 is one of intense interest. Few that meet such dan- 
 gers live to report them. 
 
 On arriving again at Macao, Mr. W. M. Lowrie 
 continued his study of the Chinese language ; aided 
 the printer in his work for the printing-press and its 
 metallic type ; visited Hong Kong, Amoy, Chusan, 
 Shanghai, and Ningpo, and settled in the last city 
 as his station, after correspondence with the Board 
 and conference with the missionaries. He could now 
 preach with little aid from an interpreter. His pro- 
 ficiency in the study of the language led his brethren 
 to appoint him as their delegate to a conference at 
 Shanghai of the leading missionaries in China, for the 
 revision of a translation of the Scriptures into 
 Chinese ; and he was able to take a modest, but appre- 
 ciated, part in this work. 
 
 After spending a couple of months at the conven- 
 tion, he was requested by his collegues at Ningpo to
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 125 
 
 return to that station on a short visit for some special 
 service. 
 
 DEATH OF REV. W. M. LOWEIE. 
 
 On this journey he met with his death, under the 
 most distressing circumstances. Accompanied by his 
 faithful Ningpo servant, and another Ningpo man in 
 the employment of the Ningpo Mission, they took the 
 inland journey, which required the crossing of Chapoo 
 Bay in a small native craft. A Chinese piratical 
 barque soon bore down on this small boat for purposes 
 of plunder. At first they did not molest the foreigner, 
 whom they found on board ; but, probably fearing 
 that his presence might endanger their own safety, 
 after a little consultation among themselves, they 
 threw him overboard, and kept him from returning 
 by their spears. His bible, which he was reading 
 while they were plundering the boat, he threw on 
 deck as he was forced over, and it was secured by his 
 servant. It is still in service by a member of his 
 family. Other incidents were reported by his Chinese 
 servant. Evidently his mind was kept in peace until 
 the end came. That end was surely a blessed one, 
 after sorrowful and great tribulation. 
 
 NOTICES OF HIS MEMOIES. 
 
 It was on Monday morning, December 17, 1847, 
 that the sad news reached the Mission House, New 
 York, just as the members of the Executive Com- 
 mittee were assembling for their regular weekly meet- 
 ing. After the meeting was constituted, the Com- 
 mittee agreed to transact no business, excepting to 
 have the letters from China read, and then to spend
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 some time in prayer. The members then adjourned 
 in deep sorrow and sympathy. 
 
 A memoir was prepared by his father, which passed 
 through several editions. Some sixty pages of the 
 volume were omitted in the later editions, perhaps to 
 lessen the cost, consisting of "Letters from Mission- 
 aries and Others. ' ' Their omission is a cause of regret. 
 Seldom is a collection of letters of sympathy and 
 mourning, so sorrowful and yet comforting, from so 
 many missionaries, and from friends in England and 
 our own country, found in a single volume. Particu- 
 lar reference may be made to the "Remarks" on this 
 sad event by the venerable Archibald Alexander, 
 D.D., to the letter of the Rt. Rev. W. J. Boone, D.D., 
 of the American Episcopal Mission, of Shanghai, to 
 many letters from other friends, and to the able 
 review of Mr. W. M. Lowrie's life by the Rev. 
 Richard W. Dickinson, D.D., in the Missionary Me- 
 morial, of 1852. 
 
 It may be added here, that Walter's younger 
 brother, Reuben, after completing his college and 
 seminary course of study for the ministry, went as a 
 missionary to China, and was stationed at Shanghai. 
 He went out to assist his brother as he had expected, 
 but now to take his place ; but he was early called to 
 rejoin him in the Saviour's presence. He was per- 
 mitted to live at Shanghai from 1854 to 1860, and then 
 departed this life, greatly lamented by the mission- 
 aries of all the churches in Shanghai. He had de- 
 clined medical advice as to returning to this coun- 
 try on a visit f orchis health, saying that he would not 
 return "until he had looked Death in the face." 
 Alas, it was then too late. His wife returned to this 
 country for the education of their children, and then
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 127 
 
 went back to China, at her own charges. She was 
 accompanied by her surviving son, the Rev. J. Walter 
 Lowrie, and her daughter, afterwards married to a 
 medical missionary from New York, also in work at 
 his own charge. 
 
 SIAM AND LAOS. 
 
 The missions to the Siamese and the Laos received 
 earnest consideration from the Board, at the time 
 when its work for China was undertaken, at Singa- 
 pore. Mr. Orr made a visit from Singapore to Bang- 
 kok, to make inquiries on this subject, influenced 
 partly by the number of Chinese then living in Siam. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Buell afterwards were sent to Bangkok, 
 but the ill-health of Mrs. Buell compelled their return 
 to their home in this country. Others were sent to 
 the Siamese, whose king was unwilling to have them 
 stay. His death, and the accession to the throne of 
 a liberal and friendly ruler changed greatly the pros- 
 pects of the Mission. Two of their members, Rev. 
 Messrs. McGilvary and J. Wilson, some time later, 
 went to the Laos country. Of late years their ranks 
 have been largely increased. The number of the mis- 
 sionaries should be still further enlarged. Their 
 work has been attended with remarkable encourage- 
 ment. Notices of the Laos mission, however, belong 
 chiefly to a later period. In the Siamese field proper, 
 valuable labourers Dr. and Mrs. Mattoon, Dr. 
 and Mrs. McDonald, Dr. House and Mrs. House, 
 and others, have occupied this field ; but not with 
 equal encouragement as among the Laos. For 
 particulars, reference may be made to the paper on 
 Siam, by the Rev. J. P. Dripps, D.D., in the His-
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 torical Sketches, pp. 207-232. Its account of Bud- 
 dhism the religion of many in Siam is one of the 
 ablest on the subject. Dr. N. A. McDonald's "Siam, 
 its Government, Manners, and Customs," is one of 
 the best brief books of reference. It is noteworthy 
 that in both these countries the missionaries are all 
 members of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 EVANGELISTIC WORK FOR THE JEWS. 
 
 An interesting part of Mr. Lowrie's official duties 
 related to a mission to the Jews. It had been referred 
 to early and repeatedly in the proceedings of our 
 ecclesiastical courts, as a work requiring almost 
 special attention by the Church. To preach the gos- 
 pel to the ancient people of God was the first work of 
 our Saviour and His disciples ; but even in those days 
 the followers of our Lord were early taught to preach 
 the gospel to every creature to the Jews certainly 
 and also to the Gentiles the world over. The Board 
 and its executive officers so understood this duty. 
 There were then some thousands of Jews in this coun- 
 try, widely scattered in many cities, increasing in 
 number, but difficult of access. Missionaries to them 
 needed special linguistic gifts, and special measures 
 of faith and patience. Some station in Europe or 
 Western Asia was supposed to give access to the 
 greatest number of this unsettled people. To find 
 the right man for this work, and to obtain the funds 
 required for his support, were causes of delay ; but 
 special pecuniary gifts were offered, and a young 
 graduate of the Alleghany Theological Seminary, a 
 native of Ohio, was obtained for this service in 1846, 
 the Rev. Matthew R. Miller.
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 129 
 
 Before leaving this country, it was concluded that 
 a year spent in New York, living in some German 
 family, and, if practicable, a Jewish family, and per- 
 fecting his acquaintance with Rabbinical Hebrew and 
 his knowledge of the Talmud, under the instruction 
 of a Jewish rabbi, would be expedient. This led to 
 a more thorough knowledge of the home field for this 
 mission, and the decision to make New York its 
 headquarters. Two years later, the Rev. John Nean- 
 der, formerly a Jewish rabbi in Germany, was 
 appointed a missionary of the Board, the funds for 
 his support having been offered by a generous donor. 
 Mr. Neander's testimonials were considered ample by 
 the Presbytery, and as an acceptable preacher in Gfer- 
 man, the Board consented to his collecting a small 
 German congregation, not omitting his visits to Jews, 
 and thereby increasing his usefulness. This led to 
 his work becoming to some extent parochial in the 
 home field, successful, but hardly in the Board's 
 sphere. To the end of his life he was revered as a 
 devoted and useful minister of the gospel. Mr. Miller 
 resigned his appointment in 1852, on account of im- 
 paired health, to the Board's sincere regret. He was 
 a minister of marked ability and devotedness. Three 
 more brethren of Jewish race were appointed on 
 recommendation of Presbyteries one in Baltimore, 
 one in Philadelphia, and one in New York. They 
 did not continue many years in this service. The 
 work for the Jews has not been continued by the 
 Board since 1876. Perhaps it should be. Not a few 
 of the ministers and members of our Church feel a 
 special interest in their evangelization ; and, as a 
 people, the Jews are still a race of foreigners.
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 "MISSIONARY OPERATIONS IN PAPAL EUROPE." 
 
 In 1845, the Board entered on missionary work in 
 Europe. Its importance and its proposed methods 
 were stated by Mr. Lowrie in the annual report for 
 that year. Previously there had been considerable 
 discussion in the Church on the general subject of 
 missions to the Roman Catholics, whether at home or 
 abroad. The proposal to organize a separate Board 
 for this work had been extensively advocated ; and 
 to a less extent, the plan of a Bureau with its separ- 
 ate secretary, in connection with the Board of For- 
 eign Missions was also advocated, but not endorsed 
 by the General Assembly. Neither was the proposal 
 of a separate Board endorsed, while yet it was felt by 
 many influential members of the Church, that action 
 of some kind was called for. The Foreign Board 
 shared this feeling in general ; and with reference to 
 further measures for making the Gospel known to 
 Roman Catholics, whether at home or abroad, was 
 led to appoint one of its ablest and best known 
 ministers as a resident missionary in France. This 
 appointment was held in reserve by him until his 
 return from a visit to Europe which he was soon to 
 make ; and then it was declined by him. Soon after- 
 wards several lay members of the Executive Commit- 
 tee spent some time without concert on visits to 
 Europe, particularly on the Continent, and they were 
 led to study this subject with care. 
 
 When this question came before the Executive 
 Committee again, all the members were in favor of 
 missionary work on the Continent, but on certain 
 lines, to wit : not of sending missionaries from this 
 country, but of sending pecuniary aid to native
 
 THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 131 
 
 brethren connected with local missionary organiza- 
 tions in Paris and Geneva, and afterwards also in 
 Brussels and by the Waldensian Synod for Italy. 
 
 The General Assembly cordially approved of this 
 method of evangelistic work for Roman Catholics as 
 well adapted to the state of the case in Europe, and 
 also as indirectly favourable to such work on our con- 
 tinent. On this basis, our connection with our Euro- 
 pean brethren was maintained from 1845 until 1891. 
 It was then suspended, under some misapprehensions, 
 it must have been, as to another method in its stead. 
 In the preceding nearly fifty years, the Board had 
 sent over $200,000 to the aid of "Missions in Papal 
 Europe." The journals and letters received, though 
 sometimes discouraging, were often of great interest. 
 
 The Protestant Churches in the United States can- 
 not look on the efforts of the Romanist Church to 
 secure again its ascendency in such countries as 
 France, Belgium, Italy, etc., without deep sympathy 
 with our few Protestant brethren in those countries. 
 Already this conflict extends to our own country. 
 The Papal control of the destinies of the United 
 States is earnestly sought for. Of $706,455 con- 
 tributed for all Romanist missions, more than half 
 of this sum contributed by France, $207,215 was sent 
 to the United States, a larger outlay than for any 
 other quarter of the globe, . . . But this hostile 
 action is specially directed against Protestant mis- 
 sionary enterprises. . . . Referring to this con- 
 flict, the Board's report of 1845 says : 
 
 " On the other hand, a standard has been lifted up 
 against the enemy. Two efficient societies have been 
 organized, one in Paris, the other in Geneva. (A 
 Christian missionary church was afterwards organ-
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 ized in Brussels, and the venerable Waldensian 
 Synod was enabled to enter on vigorous evangelistic 
 work for Italy.) To take the direction of these 
 societies, God has raised up able and faithful men, 
 known to the churches in Europe and in our country, 
 and possessing in a high degree the confidence of all. 
 The presence of the Spirit of God is further evidenced 
 by His blessed influence on many hearts. The pres- 
 ent state of the Church in France is most remarkable. 
 At this time the Romish clergy are losing power, the 
 people are leaving them, not by individuals merely, 
 but by hundreds ; entire villages have ceased from 
 attending mass, and call for the preaching of the 
 Word." . . . The report adds : "In view of this 
 deeply interesting field of labour, the Committee is 
 thankful to report that during the last summer a 
 correspondence has been opened with the Evangelical 
 Society of Geneva, in the first instance through the 
 Rev. Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, and with the Evangelical 
 Society of France, through Rev. Messrs. F. Monod 
 and J. J. Audebaz, respected pastors of churches in 
 Paris. The plan by which the Presbyterian Church 
 can render effective aid in France and other Papal 
 countries is very simple. The excellent directors of 
 these societies will take charge of any funds remitted 
 to their care, and apply them agreeably to the wishes 
 of the donors. Thus the missionary labourers will be 
 chosen and directed by those whose local position 
 and experience enable them best to perform that 
 responsible duty, and whose well-known Christian 
 character affords the best guarantee for its faithful 
 fulfillment. By this arrangement, the embarrassment, 
 the greater expense and the less efficiency of labour- 
 ers from a foreign country will all be avoided. The
 
 THE WORE OF FOREIGN 1118810X3. 133 
 
 sum of $100 to $120 will support a female or male 
 teacher ; $200, a colporteur for a year, or $80 for five 
 months ; $250, an evangelist ; and $350 or $400, a 
 minister. Funds can also be transmitted for the pur- 
 chase of libraries of religious books for village con- 
 gregations, and for the support of young men who 
 are preparing for the work of the holy ministry."
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 THE missions of the Presbyterian Church to the 
 American Indians date in 1741, and among the earliest 
 missionaries were David Brainerd and his brother 
 John Brainerd. Other missionaries entered on the 
 same good work; see Dr. Ashbel Green's "Presby- 
 terian Missions." Of the Indian Missions conducted 
 since 1832 by the W. F. M. Society, and by the Board 
 of F. M., the Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, 
 Wea, Iowa, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, Otoe, Omaha, 
 Winnebago, Dakota, Chippewa, Ottowa, Seneca, Tus- 
 carora, Alleghany, Nez Perce, Navajo and Pueblo 
 tribes. In some of these tribes, the Seneca, Tusca- 
 rora, Alleghany, Dakota, Nez Perce, Choctaw, mis- 
 sions had been previously conducted by the American 
 Board, but most of them had become Presbyterian. 
 Some tribes had been taught by Synods prior to 1832. 
 
 It is stated by Professor Garritt, that in forty- 
 eight years our Foreign Board^ supported 453 mission- 
 aries of all classes among the above-mentioned tribes, 
 at an expense of $525,600 by our churches, and of 
 $520,000 entrusted to the Board by the Government 
 for educational work. Over 3,000 persons were 
 received during that time as communicants, exclusive 
 of nearly 2, 000 more transferred by the American Board 
 with its Seneca, Dakota, Cherokee and other missions. 
 At least 6,000 children were taught in the schools by 
 the missionaries. Over thirty ministers, licentiates 
 and other native labourers were in the service of the
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 135 
 
 Board. The clerical missionaries usually acquired 
 a knowledge of the language of the tribes respectively. 
 This knowledge being as needful to them as the lan- 
 guages of Africa or Siam to missionaries in those 
 countries. Not a few of the lady teachers also be- 
 came proficient in this knowledge. A historical 
 sketch of these Indian missions, by the Rev. Prof. J. 
 B. G-arritt, published by the W. F. M. Society, 1334 
 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, is valuable for refer- 
 ence. 
 
 It is not needful to state how these divinely blessed 
 missions ceased to be connected with the Foreign 
 Board. Mr. Lowrie felt a deep sympathy for the 
 Indian tribes, partly from his knowledge of them ac- 
 quired in the Capitol; and his acquaintance with 
 farming, school-teaching, etc., qualified him for 
 special usefulness in his visits to the Indian settle- 
 ments. As secretary he made visits, in different 
 years, to eleven tribes of which two were east of the 
 Mississippi River, and the others lived in territories 
 southwest and northwest of the Mississippi and 
 Missouri. These journeys, west of these rivers, were 
 mostly made on horseback, extending many hun- 
 dreds of miles, and sometimes subjecting him to 
 severe fatigue, exposure, and even peril in several 
 cases when he was from sixty to over seventy years 
 of age. But he felt it to be a real privilege to meet 
 the missionaries in their homes, and to address the 
 Indians through an interpreter in their councils or at 
 the stations. It need hardly be added that these 
 visits were warmly welcomed by the missionaries, 
 and by some of the Indians, by their few churches, 
 and by some of the chiefs. 
 
 From his journal of a visit in 1852 to the Choctaw,
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek Missions, in the 
 Indian Territory, requiring absence from the Mission 
 House from April 12th to June 26th, and travelling 
 in the Indian country, mostly on horseback, some 
 600 miles, a few extracts are here inserted ; see H. 
 and F. Record, of September, 1852, pages 272-280. 
 
 Several days were spent at Spencer, the Choctaw 
 station ; for the Chickasaws, Wapanucka was the 
 next station ; then Oak Ridge, Seminole ; and then 
 Tallahassee and Kowetah, Creek. At all, the usual 
 conferences and religious services occupied the time. 
 The heavy storms of rain and swollen rivers and 
 creeks made the travelling very severe. 
 
 Friday, May 21, 1852. Although the sky was 
 overcast, being anxious to be on my way, concluded 
 to set out. Mr. Allen went with me, intending to 
 return when he saw me across the Canadian branch 
 of the Arkansas, 35 miles distant. We left at 
 7 A. M., the horses in fine spirits, and the ride over 
 the prairies for some hours was delightful. At 10 A. 
 M. we reached the Boggy river, but the stream was 
 so deep and rapid, and the banks on both sides so 
 steep, it was impossible to cross, even by swimming 
 the horses. We then concluded to ride some distance 
 up the river, in hopes of getting a better fording. 
 But the river was so crooked that when we were four 
 or five miles up, it was a great distance from the 
 prairie on which we rode. It was now 11 A. M., and 
 a heavy thunder-gust, with rain and wind came upon 
 us. We had just time to put on our Indian blankets, 
 when the rain fell in torrents. I never saw till now 
 such large drops of rain, and so close together. As 
 we rode on we came to a large branch of the Boggy, 
 which took our horses to the belly. We had some
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 137 
 
 misgivings about being able to re-cross this stream, 
 in case we had to return, but hoping soon to reach 
 the main river, we went on. We found, as we ad- 
 vanced, that we had got but the wing of the storm. 
 The little streams were full of water, and every path 
 in the prairie overflowed. The ground was so wet, 
 the horses sunk often to the pastern joint. The 
 Indians whose cabins we passed could not speak 
 English, so we could not learn how far we were from 
 the river. At noon ;we came to a small stream, not 
 more than twenty feet wide, but so full of water, and 
 so rapid, we could not cross over it. We then turned 
 back, and after letting our horses graze for half an 
 hour, we passed on homewards, as fast as the wet 
 ground, and our now tired horses would permit. Be- 
 fore we reached the first branch, we came to the cabin 
 of Mr. Wilson, a friendly Indian, known to Mr. Allen, 
 and who spoke English. He told us he had just come 
 up from the branch, that we could not cross it, for it was 
 full from bank to bank. He would go with us, how- 
 ever, and he thought, by going round, we could cross 
 it where it forked into three branches. He led us a 
 wide and weary circuit ; stayed with us till we crossed 
 two of the forks, and then pointed out the course 
 that would bring us to a path, adding you cannot 
 lose the road. We did lose it, however, or rather we 
 never found it, and we soon came to the bottom land 
 of the third fork, where we were entangled with 
 grape-vines, green briars, and sharp spines of the 
 Red River burdock. We made various attempts to 
 cross, but in every instance found the water so deep 
 the horses would have to swim. Another gust was 
 coming up, and cross we must, or remain in that wet 
 and gloomy bottom all night. Mr. Allen's horse be-
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 ing larger than mine, got over partly by walking and 
 partly by swimming. He carried my saddle-bags, 
 which, being well made, were but slightly wet. My 
 horse, however, had to swim for it, which he did nobly. 
 We crossed in safety, but were wet nearly to the 
 middle, and our boots were full of water. Making 
 out of the bottom to the prairie, and having each a 
 pocket compass, we pursued a course that Mr. Allen 
 knew would strike a path that would lead us home. 
 We had still eight or nine miles to go, and it was 
 now near 4 P. M. We had to cross a high hill, so 
 steep in descent that we had to walk down. At the 
 foot, Mr. Allen picked up a singular petrefaction, and 
 I was putting it in his saddle-bags, which were on my 
 horse, when I found them half full of water. In one 
 end, Mrs. Allen, with considerate forethought, had 
 placed a little bag of ground coffee, and a paper of 
 sugar. The sugar was all melted, and so much of the 
 coffee that it was about the right strength. Though 
 in no laughing humor, the idea of carrying the sad- 
 dle-bags half full of liquid coffee, five times sweet- 
 ened, was so ludicrous that we laughed heartily. 
 After a cold and weary ride we reached the mission 
 at 7 P. M. They were all glad to see us back, as they 
 had seen the storm passing in the north. A change 
 of clothes, a cup of tea, and a cheerful fire made us 
 feel at home. 
 
 The day's ride, however, was a hard one, both for 
 man and horse. We were eleven hours on the saddle, 
 exclusive of the half hour we let our horses graze. 
 We must have travelled above forty miles, and the 
 deep roads, the frequent crossings of deep and un- 
 bridged streams, made it fully equal to sixty miles. 
 But we were truly thankful that the providence of
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 139 
 
 God watched over us. Had we not met with Wilson, 
 we must have remained in the forks of the Boggy all 
 night, with no shelter but two wet blankets, and our 
 common clothes. Nothing remains but for me to 
 stand still till these waters subside. I cannot return 
 even, for the waters on the road are up also. In the 
 meantime, were it not for the delay, the home with 
 these dear friends is a very pleasant one. 
 
 Saturday, May 22. Sore enough this morning, 
 and no wonder, for Mr. Allan complains of being 
 sore all over. It rained heavily in the night, and 
 every time I awoke, I thought of the forks of the 
 Boggy, where, but for the providence of God, we 
 would have been passing the night. 
 
 May 23 to 25. Had an attack of fever which gave 
 way to medicine. The waters so much fallen. Made 
 arrangements to try the road again to-morrow. 
 
 Wednesday, May 26. Eained very hard all night. 
 Wapanucka creek is over all its banks. The streams 
 are now higher than ever. No way of getting either 
 back or forward. Feel sometimes almost discour- 
 aged. No chance of getting twelve miles either way 
 till the waters fall. 
 
 Monday, May 31. Set out again for the Seminole 
 mission, with Mr. Allan and an Indian guide. We 
 reached the Boggy at a point higher up than in the 
 former trial. The river was not deep here, and we 
 thought this could not be the much dreaded stream, 
 till we looked up and saw the high-water mark on 
 the trees some twenty feet above our heads. At 
 sundown we reached the Canadian, forty-four miles 
 from Wapanucka. Our horses suffered much from 
 the prairie fly. My horse being an iron grey, suffered 
 the most, as that is one of their favourite colours.
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 From 9 A.M. till 4 P.M., he was kept in a constant 
 fever of excitement. 
 
 The prairie fly is a beautiful insect ; it is about 
 half an inch long, and three-sixteenths of an inch in 
 thickness. Its colour is bright green, and the wings 
 are two-thirds the length of the body. It strikes its 
 victim with the directness of an arrow, and instantly 
 inflicts a deep wound, from which the blood will ooze 
 out in drops, even after the fly is removed. Had I 
 been two weeks later in the season I could have trav- 
 elled only at night, as thousands upon thousands of 
 them were seen on the weeds and grass in the prairies, 
 not fully fledged. 
 
 We lodged at the cabin of a Shawnee Indian with 
 a large family of children. We found on inquiring 
 that there were forty families of Shawnees settled 
 together. Our host could speak pretty good English 
 and was willing to talk. His knowledge of God and 
 divine things was very obscure. When asked if his 
 neighbours would attend to hear preaching and 
 prayer, if a missionary came to them, he did not 
 seem to know what the question meant. Would the 
 parents send their children to school ? He could not 
 say ; it had never been spoken of. Would they be 
 afraid if a white teacher came to them ? No, they 
 were not afraid of white men, why should they ? 
 How many children were there belonging to the forty 
 families ? He did not know ; some had four, some 
 six, some eight or ten ; some were young men and 
 women, some little children. 
 
 He treated us very kindly ; he has been here ten 
 years, and has a large improvement, many horses, 
 and cattle and even goats. His cabins, however, 
 were so small that he made our beds out of doors,
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 with buffalo skins and Indian blankets. But the 
 mosquitoes were so numerous that I slept none the 
 whole night. 
 
 1. Little need be added to show the vital import- 
 ance of the measures here proposed, for the benefit 
 of the Chickasaw people. But unless the qualified 
 men and women can be obtained, these institutions 
 cannot be commenced. A deep responsibility rests 
 upon our brethren in the ministry in regard to this 
 matter. With their assistance the proper agents can 
 be obtained, and no time is to be lost, for some of 
 them are wanted now, and all will soon be needed on 
 their field of labour. 
 
 2. It is cause of encouragement that the whole 
 time of one faithful missionary is given to the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel among this people. Another is 
 greatly needed in the same kind of itinerant labours. 
 Besides the Chickasaws and the Choctaws, there are 
 the forty families of the Shawnees, who have never 
 heard of salvation. Who will go to preach unto 
 them the unsearchable riches of Christ ? 
 
 3. The blessings of a strong mission among the 
 Chickasaws will not be confined to them, but will 
 in due time extend beyond their limits, and reach 
 the tribes to the south, and far to the west. God in 
 His providence has given this people the means of 
 improvement, and the disposition to use them, by 
 inviting to their assistance those who are abundantly 
 able to instruct them. These institutions, accom- 
 panied by the preaching of the Gospel with the bless- 
 ing of God, will be the means of raising up an edu- 
 cated and sanctified native agency, far beyond their 
 own wants. From this advanced position, the mis- 
 sionaries sent out can be supplied with every facility
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 for further advances, and accompanied by the native 
 brethren, will in time be able, step by step, to reach 
 the Comanches of Texas, the Pueblas, Apaches and 
 Navajoes of New Mexico, the ancient Cibolos, and 
 even the poor root-diggers of Utah. It was the con- 
 stant and untiring effort of the Apostle to the Gen- 
 tiles to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond. 
 This was the rule of his life, so far as he was en- 
 larged and sustained by the churches. So it ought 
 to be with the ministers and the churches now. 
 
 SEMINOLE MISSION. 
 
 June 1. Early on Tuesday we crossed the Cana- 
 dian without difficulty, though the water came above 
 the skirts of the saddle. From bank to bank the 
 river here is half a mile wide, and about half that 
 distance was now covered with water. Here Mr. 
 Allan and the Indian guide returned, and I pursued 
 my way alone, at first through the wide forests which 
 adjoin the river, and afterwards through prairies 
 interspersed with woodland. I could get no guide, 
 however, and soon lost my way among the numerous 
 Indian paths. I had not been able to ascertain 
 whether the Seminole mission was to the northwest 
 or the northeast of the point where I crossed the 
 river. The account I had received of the distance 
 also varied from fourteen to twenty-four miles. After 
 wandering among the paths for more than two hours, 
 I struck a wagon road, and at a venture took the 
 west end. This soon brought me to an Indian settle- 
 ment, but they could not speak English. When 
 I asked the road to Ed wards' s store, they always 
 pointed to the road leading to the west. After trav-
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 143 
 
 elling sixteen miles, I met an intelligent Sliawnee 
 Indian who could speak English. He informed me 
 that I was on the California road, going in the wrong 
 direction. I then found I had to go back over these 
 long and weary miles. The heat of the sun was 
 most oppressive, and the flies kept my poor horse in 
 a ferment in every prairie. At sundown I reached 
 Edwards' s store, faint and wearied, for I had eaten 
 nothing all day. I had travelled forty-eight miles, 
 and was distant but ten miles from where I had 
 parted with Mr. Allan ; yet I felt truly thankful that, 
 in the providence of God, I had met this friendly 
 Indian. Without his direction I must have gone 
 further out of the way, and have been obliged to 
 lodge in the prairie, without food or company. 
 
 Wednesday, June2. I reached the Seminole mis- 
 sion at Oak Ridge, at 9 A. M. It is less than fifty 
 miles from Wapanucka, but by the circuit we made 
 to cross the Boggy river, and by losing my way, I 
 had travelled more than one hundred miles. 
 
 I found the mission family well, but very uneasy 
 on account of my long delay. After speaking to all 
 the scholars, I spent the rest of the day in viewing 
 the premises and in conferring with the missionaries. 
 The site of Oak Ridge is well-chosen for health, and 
 the woodland and prairies, for miles around, are 
 rich and productive. The buildings, owing to the 
 difficulty in getting boards, are not yet finished, and 
 in their present state subject the families to much 
 inconvenience. When finished they will accommo- 
 date thirty scholars. At present, the school contains 
 sixteen Seminoles, supported by the mission, and 
 four Creeks, supported by their parents. 
 
 There is but little difference between the Seminole
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 and Creek languages. Living as these two tribes do, 
 in the same territory, they must at some time 
 become one people. The Seminoles are much scat- 
 tered, and show as yet but little disposition to attend 
 on religious services ; though a few living near attend 
 the public worship on the Sabbath. The boarding- 
 school appears to be the best agency at first, to bring 
 the blessings of the Gospel and civilization to them, 
 and if it were enlarged to thirty Seminole children, 
 it would in due time be to them a rich and precious 
 blessing. 
 
 I was so pressed for time, I could stay but little 
 more than one day at the Seminole mission, and on 
 Thursday at 11 A. M., I set out for Tallahassee. 
 Gilbert Combs, one of the largest boys of the school, 
 went with me, to act as interpreter, in case of need. 
 The road lay principally through prairies, and until 
 4 P.M., the flies stung my horse almost to frenzy. 
 Then two very heavy gusts, or rather torrents, of rain, 
 the second succeeding the first at a short interval, 
 with strong wind, and tremendous thunder and 
 blinding lightning, came down upon us in the prairie. 
 It continued to rain all the evening, and every little 
 rivulet was soon running so full of water we could 
 hardly cross it. Till 9 P. M., we had come to no 
 human habitation, and then we came to a creek so 
 deep and rapid we could not cross. Our condition 
 was now most unpleasant, as it was still raining. 
 The evening was dark, although the moon had been 
 up for half an hour. After such heavy rains, it was 
 impossible for us to kindle a fire, destitute, as we 
 were of an axe, to procure dry wood. Just then we 
 discovered an Indian cabin. A single Indian was in 
 bed, and he permitted us to stay all night. He, too,
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 145 
 
 had got wet, and as a kind Providence ordered it for 
 us, lie had left a good fire burning. This was what 
 we most needed, for all my clothes were wet, and 
 those in my saddle-bags were wet also. Mrs. Lilley 
 had kindly furnished us with ground coffee, and 
 plenty of other provisions. For the first time, I tried 
 my hand at making coffee, and, being wet and cold, 
 we found it excellent. After drying my clothes for 
 some time, I lay down on the floor and slept soundly. 
 I felt truly thankful that the Lord had provided for 
 us this humble shelter. 
 
 Friday, June 4. The morning was clear and 
 lovely, the sun came out in all its brightness, and 
 the air was cool and refreshing. We found that the 
 rain of yesterday had quieted our beautiful but tor- 
 menting enemies, the flies, and we made good prog- 
 ress on our way. At noon we crossed the north 
 fork of the Arkansas river. The fording is uneven 
 and rocky, and the water deep and rapid, but we 
 crossed in safety. Near sunset we were stopped by 
 Elk creek, which was full from bank to bank. We 
 lodged in an Indian cabin, clean and neat, owned by 
 an Indian woman, who gave us a good supper and 
 breakfast. In the morning her son took us to a 
 fording higher up, where we crossed without swim- 
 ming the horses. For ten miles, till we reached the 
 wide forest of the Arkansas river, our winged adver- 
 saries marked our poor horses with many stains of 
 blood. 
 
 CREEK MISSION. 
 
 At noon on Saturday, June 5, we reached Tallahas- 
 see, being one hundred miles in two days. We were
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 most cordially welcomed by all the missionaries. They 
 too had become quite anxious about me, having heard 
 nothing of me since leaving Fort Smith, on the 29th 
 of April. If I had not reached them that day, they 
 would have sent on Monday to inquire after me. 
 
 The boarding-school at Tallahassee contains forty 
 boys and forty girls. I examined it on different days, 
 during my stay. The children appear remarkably 
 well. While in school they are as attentive to 
 their books, as quiet, orderly and obedient as any 
 scholars need be. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, and Miss 
 Eddy, have charge of the school, and the scholars 
 are highly favoured with having such competent, 
 experienced and efficient teachers. Miss Stedham 
 also is employed as assistant native teacher. Both 
 scholars and teachers are looking forward with con- 
 fidence to the July examination. From a thorough 
 examination, they have nothing to fear. 
 
 Miss Thompson has the general care of household 
 matters, assisted by Mrs. Reid. When out of school 
 the girls come under their care, and I have never seen 
 two ladies better qualified for such an important 
 trust. The boys, when out of school, are under the 
 care of Mr. Junkin. Much of Mr. Robertson's time 
 also is given to them out of school, and as he has con- 
 siderable skill in working in wood, his example and 
 instructions in this, as well as in matters of more 
 importance, are of much benefit to them. 
 
 The connection of Dr. Junkin with the mission 
 was terminated by mutual consent. His purpose is 
 to reside a mile or more from the mission, and give 
 himself wholly to his profession. In case of sickness, 
 the mission will have his services. He has, in a good 
 degree, secured the confidence of this people, and all
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 147 
 
 his influence among them will tend to promote their 
 best interests. 
 
 I spent the Sabbath at Tallahassee. Mr. Lough- 
 ridge had an appointment to preach at a place ten 
 miles distant, from which he returned at 3 P. M. In 
 the morning the scholars met in the Sabbath-school, 
 which presented much the appearance of a Sabbath- 
 school in one of our churches at home. At 11 A. M. 
 Mr. Loomis preached by an interpreter ; a few of the 
 neighbours, principally members of the church, were 
 present. In the afternoon, I made an address to the 
 scholars, which was translated by the interpreter, 
 that all might understand it. After this I made an 
 address to the mission families, at some length, in re- 
 lation to the missionary work, its trials, and its certain 
 and glorious results. These exercises were accom- 
 panied by singing and prayer, in English and 
 Muskogee. 
 
 June 8. On Tuesday at 4 A. M., Mr. Loughridge, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Loomis, and myself set out for Kowe- 
 tah, fifteen miles distant. By starting so early, we 
 stole a march on the prairie flies. I stayed but one 
 day at this station, which gave me barely time to 
 examine the school and the premises, and arrange 
 some prospective matters with the brethren. 
 
 The school contains forty scholars ; they are about 
 the same ages, and are pursuing nearly the same 
 course of studies, as at Tallahassee. I examined the 
 different classes, and made to them a short address. 
 These youth and children are exceedingly promising. 
 Their religious instruction is constantly and promi- 
 nently attended to. The mission church is made up 
 chiefly of those who have been, or now are, scholars of 
 the school, and with the continued blessing of God
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 on the labours of these his servants, this branch of 
 the mission, if continued as at present, will be of 
 lasting benefit to this people. 
 
 When Mr. Loomis's health will permit, he will con- 
 duct the services in the mission church on the Sab- 
 bath, thus leaving Mr. Templeton to preach on the 
 Sabbath at different places, where preaching is greatly 
 needed. The evening was spent with these beloved 
 missionaries, till a late hour, in religious conversa- 
 tion in reference to the missionary work. 
 
 June 9. At 8 A. M. I bade farewell to these kind 
 friends, and with Mr. Loughridge returned to Talla- 
 hassee. For three hours, the flies, in increasing num- 
 bers, tormented our horses, and wearied ourselves. 
 I spent the day in the school, and with Mr. Lough- 
 ridge, examining the premises and all the details of 
 existing arrangements. It is not necessary to speak 
 of his devotion to the best interests of this people, or 
 of his untiring efforts to do them good. He still pos- 
 sesses their confidence, and richly has he merited it 
 at their hands. 
 
 The Muskogee chiefs are not prepared to promote 
 education with the liberality that the Cherokees, 
 Choctaws and Creeks promote it yet they desire 
 their people to be educated. In withdrawing the 
 allowance from Kowetah, I think it not unlikely they 
 counted a good deal on the Board sustaining the 
 school without expense to them. 
 
 June 10. On Thursday at 10 A. M. I parted with 
 the last company of our missionary friends, after we 
 had committed each other to the protecting care and 
 mercy of our heavenly Father. In every instance 
 these partings have been sad and painful to us all. 
 They ought to remind us that this is not our rest, and
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 140 
 
 that we are but strangers and pilgrims here. Mr. 
 Loughridge accompanied me to Fort Gfibson, nine 
 miles distant. On the way, we called on General 
 Mackintosh, B. Marshall, Esq., and Mr. Lewis, three 
 of the chiefs whom I met when here five years 
 ago. 
 
 IOWAS SACS OTTOES KICKAPOOS. 
 
 Mr. Lowrie and Mr. William Rankin, Jr., treas- 
 urer of the Board, made a visit to several missions in 
 the Northwest in 1858 the former then in the seventy- 
 fourth year of his age. Their report of this journey 
 begins at New Orleans in May of that year, where 
 they had been members of the General Assembly, as 
 Elders and Commissioners from the Presbyteries of 
 New York and Newark respectively. It is pleasant 
 to see these narratives of their joint work. Mr. 
 Rankin, a man of ample pecuniary means, for 
 thirteen years in practice as a lawyer in a prominent 
 firm in Cincinnati, was led by his religious con- 
 victions to accept the office of treasurer of the Board 
 of Foreign Missions in 1850. In this service he con- 
 tinued until advancing years led to his retirement in 
 1888 honoured and beloved. 
 
 Of the visit to these Northwestern Indians, Messrs. 
 Lowrie and Rankin, after a short stay in St. Louis, on 
 matters of Indian missionary business, arrived at the 
 Iowa and Sac Mission. . . . They were on the 
 same boat from Jefferson City to Doniphan with a 
 detachment of Government troops and their supplies, 
 for their expedition to Utah, to which Mr. Lowrie 
 refers : " We had a view of what is required, even on 
 a small scale, to carry on war. Hundreds of horses,
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 and mules, and yokes of oxen. Artillery and smaller 
 arms, wagons, tents, and military stores with all kinds 
 of clothing and provisions, were landed here, and at 
 other points on the Missouri river. A large body of 
 troops had left the preceding day, on their long march 
 across the plains. These we afterwards passed in an 
 evening encampment on the prairie. In view of such 
 scenes, though on a small scale compared with other 
 military movements, how thankful should we be as a 
 nation, that wars with us are so infrequent ; and how 
 earnestly ought the Christian to labour and pray 
 for the time when men shall beat their swords into 
 ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, 
 and nations learn war no more. 
 
 Tuesday, June 1. Left the Iowa and Sac mission, 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Irwin, for the Kickapoo mission, 
 where we arrived at two o'clock P.M. The mission 
 families were then in good health, though previously 
 they had suffered with chills and fevers. Spent part 
 of the time with Mr. Thorne, arranging and deciding 
 on the improvements yet needed, and designating the 
 amount of expenses for the different objects. 
 
 The school had at times as many as twenty-four 
 boys, but it now contained but half that number, and 
 as yet no girls have attended. Their parents use 
 all manner of excuses for keeping the girls at home. 
 The adverse influences existing at the Iowa and Sac 
 mission, exist here in full force, and will require the 
 same action of the Department to control them. 
 
 Our visit to this mission, in many respects, was a 
 very pleasant one. Our friends in charge of the in- 
 terests of the school and mission, have had but little 
 experience or intercourse with Indians. But they 
 are devoted to this work, and willing to contend with
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 151 
 
 trials and discouragements, if thereby they may do 
 good to those whom they were sent to instruct. 
 
 Thursday, June 3. Left for the Ottoe mission, 
 some seventy miles distant, and Mr. and Mrs. Irwin 
 returned home. Mr. Irwin had furnished us with a 
 light carriage, well curtained, and drawn by two 
 horses. Henry Mancrovier, a half-blood of the Black- 
 feet tribe, about seventeen years of age, went with 
 us, to assist on the way, and bring back the carriage 
 and horses, when we should reach the river at Ne- 
 braska City. Bidding our friends farewell, we made 
 an early start, and, on Friday the 4th, reached the 
 Ottoe mission at 10 A.M. On our way we passed 
 the troops encamped on a beautiful prairie ; the tents 
 stretching in long and regular lines ; and the horses 
 and oxen feeding in the distance. The most perfect 
 order and stillness reigned throughout the whole. 
 
 We found our friends here, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Guthrie, Miss Sarah Conover, and the two native 
 assistants, in good health. There was a good deal of 
 business matters to be attended to. A beginning 
 only has been made in the improvements. We re- 
 mained at the mission till Tuesday, the 8th. On 
 Saturday we visited the Indian village, a short ac- 
 count of which has been drawn up by Mr. Rankin. 
 There were no children in the school, yet the Indians 
 appear to be friendly, and when spoken to, always 
 promise to send their children to the school. Their 
 agent, Major Denniston, had urged them strongly to 
 make no more delay, and they said as soon as they 
 returned from their summer hunt, they would fill up 
 the school. Their hunt, much to their disadvantage, 
 was a failure. The Cheyennes barred their way on 
 one side, and the hostile Sioux on the other, so that
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 they could not reach the hunting-ground, and thus 
 were forced to return empty-handed. The adverse 
 influences here are much the same as at the Iowa and 
 Kickapoo missions, and the same remedial measures 
 will be required to remove them. 
 
 Tuesday, June 8. Set out early for Nebraska 
 City, seventy-six miles distant. Hitherto we had 
 been greatly favoured, in not being detained in cross- 
 ing the streams. Shortly before we reached them, 
 they were too high to be forded, and soon after we 
 had passed they were again flooded with the heavy 
 rains. We reached the Great Nemaha, thirty-five 
 miles, at two o'clock P.M. We crossed without diffi- 
 culty, although the waters were too high for perfect 
 safety. Soon after a heavy rain came on, which con- 
 tinued all night, and which stopped our further 
 journeying for that day. Had we been a day later, 
 we could not have crossed till the stream subsided. 
 Next day brought us to the Little Nemaha. Here 
 the crossing was really dangerous, but we got over in 
 safety, with some wetting to our carpet-bags. For 
 eighteen miles the roads were the worst that any of 
 us had ever seen. The ravines and small streams 
 running from the interior to the river, seemed to be 
 nothing but tracts of quicksand ; in crossing them, 
 the horses would sink up to the shoulder. At one 
 place I thought the poor horses were gone, and that 
 they never could struggle through. To make it 
 worse, a cold rain fell in torrents the most of those 
 weary eighteen miles. Our young driver, Henry, 
 got frightened at their plunges, and I had to take 
 the rains myself. This gave me a full share of the 
 falling rain. But a merciful Providence watched 
 over us, and at three o'clock, P.M., we reached Ne-
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 153 
 
 braska City, where our land journey was for the 
 present to terminate. The rain continued nearly 
 the whole night. 
 
 Thursday, June 10. The rain had ceased, and 
 we started Henry with the team back to the Iowa 
 mission. By crossing into the States of Iowa and 
 Missouri the road to the mission was good. He 
 reached home in safety. No white boy of his age 
 could have been more competent or careful. The 
 steamer "Emigrant" had just arrived, and we took 
 passage in her for Bellevue, sixty miles distant by 
 water. The wetting of the preceding day brought on 
 a severe chill, which was followed by a fever. I kept 
 my berth all day, and reaching Bellevue at dark, we 
 met Mr. Hamilton at the landing, and were soon at 
 home with his quiet and amiable family. 
 
 . . . In my weak state of health, Mr. Rankin 
 rendered efficient assistance in attending to business ; 
 this, indeed, he had done at the different missions - 
 From his being on the ground, and seeing the work 
 and the wants of the missionary labourers, he carried 
 back clearer views of the work itself, than could be 
 given by any description. I was very anxious to visit 
 the Omaha mission, one hundred miles above Belle- 
 vue. But the road on the river bottom was almost 
 impassable. The streams were high, and the bridges 
 all carried away by the flood. The ridge road was 
 still open, but it was fifty miles further, and required 
 camping out for at least two nights each way. I 
 waited some days for a boat, but could hear of none 
 going higher up than Omaha City. With much 
 reluctance, I gave up the visit to this mission, and 
 engaged Mr. Hamilton to pay it a visit, and confer 
 with the brethren there on some points of interest to
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 the mission and the school. This labour of love Mr. 
 Hamilton performed, by the first boat that came up 
 after we left. 
 
 This mission, though not exempt from the dis- 
 couraging influence existing at the other missions, is 
 upon the whole encouraging. Twenty-four boys and 
 eight girls are in the schools, while the chiefs and 
 Indians generally appear to place full confidence in 
 their missionaries and teachers. 
 
 In this month, Mr. Lowrie turned over some mat- 
 ters of business to Mr. Rankin, and returned to the 
 Mission House, New York. Mr. Rankin' s report here 
 follows : 
 
 The Ottoe mission is seventy -five miles west from 
 the Missouri river, a few rods south of the fortieth 
 parallel of latitude, which divides the Territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska. It stands on a rich prairie, 
 with running water near at hand, and with woodland 
 views in every direction. The Mission House, a large 
 three-story building of concrete, is a conspicuous 
 object at the distance of several miles. 
 
 Mr. Lowrie and myself, with our Indian boy Henry, 
 of the Iowa school, arrived at the Mission on Friday, 
 the 4th of June, having travelled seventy miles in a 
 two-horse curtained wagon from the Kickapoo mis- 
 sion. The Rev. H. W. Guthrie and wife are here as 
 superintendents, and Miss Sarah Conover as teacher. 
 There are also as assistants, Kirwan Murray and Re- 
 becca, his wife ; Isaac Coe, and Margaret, a Pawnee, 
 all educated at the Iowa school. I may not omit 
 Harriet, the coloured woman, who served so long and 
 faithfully Mrs. Irwin, in her missionary labours 
 among the lowas, and spoke so affectionately of her. 
 We found here, also, an excellent farmer, engaged by
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 155 
 
 Mr. Guthrie, whom we hope to retain. He had 
 planted about twenty-five acres in corn and potatoes. 
 
 Thus provided with teachers and assistants, and a 
 commodious building, forty or fifty children may be 
 accommodated at the Institution, but from various 
 causes on the part of the Indians, none were in the 
 school at present. 
 
 Our arrival at the mission at this time seemed very 
 opportune. Some finishing work about the building 
 was going on. The garden, farm, and pasture-field 
 required fencing, which was in part under way. The 
 experience of the secretary enabled him to modify 
 some projected improvements, and suggest others, 
 and the three days spent here, exclusive of the Sab- 
 bath, were most laborously occupied. 
 
 In the hope of inducing the Indians to place their 
 children in the school, we made a visit to them at 
 their village, six miles off Mr. Lowrie having sent 
 word in advance that he was coming to hold a coun- 
 cil with their chiefs. The village presented a beauti- 
 ful appearance in the distance, and much resembled 
 a military encampment. It is located on the edge of 
 a grove, with a large stream (the Blue) running 
 through it, and has a broad open prairie in front, on 
 which a large number of ponies were feeding. We 
 passed two or three graveyards, and saw in one of 
 these picket enclosures, two mourning women by the 
 remains of children, who had died the day before. 
 The dead are buried in a sitting posture, as these 
 cone-like mounds of earth indicate. 
 
 The Ottoe tribe numbers eight hundred, and there 
 may have been one hundred tents or lodges. Besides 
 the ponies, there was a goodly supply of dogs. The 
 Indians are very fond of these barking curs, that
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 came about us, and treat them as they do their chil- 
 dren, feeding them from the same dish. 
 
 Our arrival at the village awakened little interest 
 among the people. A few came around us, but most 
 of them took no notice of the strangers. Groups of 
 men and boys were playing marbles. Others were 
 stretched full length on the grass. Some were fan- 
 tastically ornamented. One young Indian was pass- 
 ing by on a pony with his head shaved and body 
 painted all over. Not a man or boy was at work, 
 Their cornfield is a little distance off, but it is tilled 
 by the government farmer, and for all other work, 
 when not on their hunt, the women are hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water and bearers of burdens. 
 A number were shifting tents, and I saw one woman 
 bent under a load of tent-poles, that would have 
 weighed down a strong labouring man. Another 
 had upon her back all the utensils of her lodge and 
 its canvass covering. One squaw standing near, 
 turned up to me her infant's face, as it lay in its 
 blanket-bed on her shoulders, and said with a 
 pleasant smile "pappoose." One cannot but admire 
 these Indian children, with their bright, intelligent 
 faces and athletic forms. I do not wonder that our 
 missionary teachers among other tribes become so 
 much attached to them. 
 
 I looked into some of the tents. Nothing was to 
 be seen but a little fire in the centre and a few cook- 
 ing and eating utensils. Men, women and children, 
 with yelping dogs, were sitting or lying on deer or 
 buffalo skins. All wore blankets save some of the 
 younger children, who were naked. 
 
 We were disappointed in finding most of the 
 chiefs away on a friendly visit to the Pawnees and
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 157 
 
 Kaws, and that no general council could be held. 
 But one of them was at home, "Big Soldier," who 
 came up and saluted us. He is a fine specimen of the 
 red race, with an expression of intelligence and 
 energy. He held together with one hand his blanket 
 thrown loosely over his shoulders, while in speaking 
 he gesticulated with the other. Several times when 
 specially animated, the blanket fell off and disclosed 
 a manly form, entirely naked, save a strap or bandage 
 of dressed skin bound round his loins, and rings and 
 beads pendant from three openings slit in his ears. 
 
 Mr. Lowrie shook hands with the chief, and intro- 
 duced to him Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie and myself. He 
 then, through Henry as interpreter, addressed him as 
 follows: "I have come all the way from New York 
 to see you and the other chiefs. I am sorry so many 
 are absent, but am glad to meet you, and find you 
 well. I wanted to see how the mission house gets on, 
 which your grandfather, the President, has built for 
 you. I am surprised and grieved to find that none 
 of the children are in the school. It grieves me to 
 see them here running about naked, or in blankets, 
 when they might be dressed like Kirwan and Henry. 
 These were sent to school, and, as you see, are just 
 like white men. That mission house was built for 
 you, that your children might be taught to work, to 
 speak English, to read and write. Your grandfather 
 wants you to be equal to your white neighbours, to 
 stand up by their side, and not be imposed on. These 
 bright-looking children that I see about me may all 
 become white men and women. These good friends 
 (pointing to Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie) have come here 
 from a great distance to do them good, and to do you 
 good. They will feed, and clothe, and teach your
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 children. When sick they will take care of them. 
 If any of your people are sick, let them know it, and 
 they will come and give them medicine. I expect 
 soon to visit your grandfather at Washington, and I 
 will tell him that I have been here and what do you 
 think he will say, when he hears that none of these 
 boys and girls are yet in the school ? I think he will 
 say that you are doing very wrong, and that you 
 must have no more annuities until your children are 
 sent to school, and kept there." 
 
 Big Soldier replied, that the chiefs would return 
 in four or five days, and they would then talk over 
 what had been said. He believed they would send 
 the children to school. They had better be there than 
 playing about here doing nothing. Some of them 
 had been sent, and had run away, because they did 
 not like to stay. He thought the chiefs would make 
 them stay. He was glad they were to have medicine, 
 for yesterday two of the children died. He then 
 changed the subject. Said that the Pawnees were 
 coming to make war on them, and take their horses. 
 Mr. Lowrie told him, that the Pawnees would not 
 make war on them. Their father, the agent, would 
 not permit it, and concluded by again referring to the 
 duty of the chiefs in regard to their children, and 
 what would be expected of them. We then shook 
 hands with Big Soldier and a number of others who 
 were standing about. 
 
 It was a sad sight, next to being in an insane re- 
 treat, to see such childishness on the part of full- 
 grown men and women. No wonder that these tribes 
 melt away under the influence of shrewd and unprin- 
 cipled white men. The power of Christian missions 
 can alone rescue them from that oblivion to which
 
 MISSIONS AMONG INDIAN TRIBES. 159 
 
 they are hastening ; and this fact is doubly apparent 
 to one who has seen, as I have, the social tendencies 
 of the "untutored Indian," surrounded by the de- 
 structive tendencies of those who care only for their 
 lands. 
 
 What effect this mission is to have upon this de- 
 graded tribe, it is of course impossible to say. The 
 providence of God has cast these Indians upon the 
 Board. Discouragements met us at the outset, and a 
 wavering faith would throw off the burden, and leave 
 a race of men to perish. It would be the first instance 
 in our history, of the Church deserting those for whose 
 welfare she had embarked, because of their indiffer- 
 ence to their own future. There is success in hope- 
 ful effort, in perseverance, and in prayer. We 
 remember discouragements in the early missions 
 among the lowas, the Chippewas, and south-western 
 tribes, but these vanished before the self-sacrificing 
 labours of the beloved brethren and sisters who went 
 among them. Our secretary could point with deep 
 gratitude to those two youths, Kirwan and Henry, 
 from the Iowa mission, who were with us on this 
 visit, and make them, as he did, his strongest argu- 
 ment to the naked chief, in behalf of the Christian 
 education of his tribe. It was unfortunate that the 
 chiefs were not all present, that he might have ex- 
 acted of them, in solemn council, a promise that their 
 children should at once enter the institution. We 
 live in hope of seeing them there, and of witnessing 
 the blessing of Grod upon these Ottoe Indians.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 COLLECTING AGENTS OR FIELD SECRETARIES. 
 
 THE methods of obtaining funds for the support of 
 missions required careful consideration by the W. F. 
 M. Society, and also by the B. F. Missions in its 
 earlier years. Both had adopted the plan of employ- 
 ing agents for this purpose. Both Dr. Swift and Mr. 
 Lowrie strongly favoured it. In those days it was 
 evidently expedient, and was in general use by 
 benevolent societies and boards. As an example, 
 the American Colonization Society, in Washington, 
 supported by members of all denominations, adopted 
 this method and other methods of similar nature ; 
 and when Mr. Lowrie, as an honorary member of its 
 Board of Managers, prepared at their request a report 
 on its embarrassed financial condition, it met with 
 their unanimous approval. Seventeenth Annual 
 Report, 1834, pages 26-37. 
 
 The Presbyterian Board was regarded as highly 
 favoured in obtaining the services of the Rev. John 
 Breckinridge, D.D., as general agent in 1838 ; but 
 an urgent call to a pastoral charge, and his lamented 
 departure from this life, led to the discontinuance of 
 the agency in 1841. The usual agencies, each extend- 
 ing to a few synods, were appointed down to 1855, 
 when they were discontinued. This was the result of 
 discussions in the Church courts and in the religious 
 newspapers, etc. Some of the ablest and best minis-
 
 A GOOD WORKING PLAN. 161 
 
 ters were employed in this service, but it was difficult 
 to secure sucli men and difficult to retain them ; be- 
 sides, it involved an expense amounting to over 
 $50,000 for salaries from 1838 to 1855. The secretary 
 and other members of the Executive Committee all 
 agreed as to the expediency of discontinuing the Col- 
 lecting Agents or Field Secretaries. Henceforth the 
 cause of missions was to rest for its pecuniary sup- 
 port on Divine grace, and on our church principles ; 
 or the doctrine of Christian stewardship, and on the 
 Apostolic direction in I. Corinthians, xvi, 1. Its 
 agents were to be the pastors and elders or other 
 members of the churches. Even in former times they 
 were the main supporters of the cause of missions. 
 
 A GOOD WOKKING PLAN. 
 
 It is still of great moment to have in each congre- 
 gation a good working plan for church collections. 
 An example may be cited, which has proved for 
 twenty years to be acceptable, efficient and success- 
 ful. It is briefly this : 1. A collection every Lord's 
 day. 2. A certain number of collections on successive 
 days assigned to each cause by the session of the 
 church, its members having conferred with members 
 of the church as to this distribution. 3. These 
 weekly collections to be asked for in three classes : 
 First, for communion expenses and relief of the poor. 
 Second, for Providential objects ; none of these being 
 ordinarily numerous. Third, for the Boards of the 
 Church. Collections for these Boards to be taken on 
 so many successive Sabbaths for each, as the church 
 session may appoint. Notice to be given from the 
 pulpit on the Sabbath preceding each series, with a
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 sermon or statement of the object. This plan has 
 given great satisfaction. It has special merits. One 
 of these is that it secures support for all the regular 
 church objects. Another is that it leaves to each 
 donor to decide as to the object and the amount of 
 his or her gifts to the cause of Christ, so far as these 
 are to be connected with the church. On lately in- 
 quiring of the respected pastor of this church which 
 is one of the best, though subject to removal of its 
 members to the city and to the West as to the suc- 
 cess of this plan after so many years, he replied : 
 " Twenty years ago this church was pecuniarily twice 
 as strong as it is now ; but its gifts are now twice as 
 large as they were then." In both dates this church 
 was favored with having the same minister. 
 
 DEPUTATIONS TO THE MISSIONS. 
 
 Some difference of opinion exists as to the expedi- 
 ency of official visits to the Missions in foreign 
 countries, by the Secretaries or other agents of the 
 Board. These visits are advocated on the ground of 
 their usefulness to both agents and missionaries, in 
 securing a good knowledge by both parties as to 
 each other and as to the subjects which require their 
 joint consideration resulting in the adoption of plans 
 which require the expenditure of funds in greater or 
 less degree. This personal acquaintance is a matter 
 of moment, it ought always to be secured before a 
 missionary goes to his field of labor. In missions of 
 long existence and matured experience, however, 
 most questions are likely to be settled by brethren of 
 the home office and in the field without special visits, 
 as on both sides they are governed by similar
 
 DEPUTATIONS TO THE MISSIONS. 163 
 
 religious principles of action, aided by the admirable 
 organization of our church courts especially by the 
 Presbyteries. The social intercourse of home visits 
 by missionaries to this country are often necessary as 
 well as useful. There are difficulties and practical 
 objections to "deputations," however, which stand 
 in the way. 
 
 First of all, are they really needed ? Are not the 
 brethren in the field competent for their work ? Con- 
 sider who they are. Then, these visits are necessarily 
 made in some degree of haste, perhaps hurry. The 
 secretaries, or the visitors, if they are the right men, 
 have their main and great work already in hand at 
 home. Their visits abroad are of limited time, and 
 so are necessarily lacking in thoroughness, at most a 
 sojourn of a day or two with a missionary's family, 
 or at a mission station, all the time probably that can 
 be allotted to it, can seldom be satisfactory in 
 several respects. The expense of these journeys is 
 also to be considered ; usually amounting to hun- 
 dreds, sometimes to many hundreds, of dollars. The 
 longer a Missionary Board continues in its adminis- 
 tration, the less should be its executive expenditures, 
 pro rata, and not the greater. But without dwelling 
 on the pros and cons of the case, all will concur in 
 the judgment that much depends on the men on both 
 sides. The danger is that of relying too much on the 
 secretaries, and too little on the missionaries. 
 
 As germane to this memoir this subject was very 
 earnestly brought before the Secretary by the early 
 missionaries in China, who requested him to make 
 them a visit, to aid them in settling the grave 
 questions at the beginning of our missionary work in 
 that vast country. But these matters were happily
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 disposed of without tJie desired visit. The inference 
 from all is : Single out the right men on both sides ; 
 then trust them, under Divine guidance each in his 
 own sphere ; in connection with his Presbytery ; as a 
 part of our Church system under the General 
 Assembly. By " Deputations," no reference is 
 intended to informal visits to Indian Tribes. 
 
 MISSION HOUSE LIBRARY. 
 
 In 1840, the senior secretary gave a good deal of 
 consideration to the forming of a library, for the use 
 of the missionary rooms. In 1861, such progress had 
 been made that a catalogue of nearly one hundred 
 pages octavo was printed, under the title of "A 
 Catalogue of the Books and Maps Belonging to the 
 Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
 Church." In the general index these were classified 
 under Africa, Bibles, Biography, China, Commerce, 
 Dictionaries, Grammars, etc., Geography, Idolatry, 
 India, Indians, Miscellaneous, Missions, Periodicals, 
 Polynesia and Oceania, Voyages and Travels ; the 
 book number preceding each title, and the names of 
 donors following each gift, respectively. Most of 
 them were valuable ; many of them, rare ; some of 
 them of special interest. It was a collection of books 
 that amply repaid its founder for the hours secured 
 from other and pressing labours. His special inter- 
 est in China had led him to give to this library from 
 his own collection, and to procure from other sources, 
 not a few volumes in the Chinese language. In 1844, 
 a large number of volumes in the same language were 
 presented to this library by the late Mr. David W. 
 C. Olyphant, a distinguished merchant of New York,
 
 I CHILDREN'S FUND. 165 
 
 in the China trade. He had obtained the services of 
 the Rev. Dr. Bridgeman, eminently qualified for the 
 work, to procure these volumes nearly 2,000 in num- 
 ber. It was a noble gift. And it was noteworthy 
 that two such men should have had the same object 
 in view previous to their personal acquaintance. See 
 extracts from their letters in the Foreign Missionary 
 Chronicle, New York, 1844, pages 254, 255. 
 
 The Chinese part of the library is supposed to be 
 unusual in this country. Besides Mr. Olyphant's 
 splendid gift, a number of Chinese books were received 
 from other donors. In addition to the books above 
 referred to, there are now many volumes of letters in 
 manuscript, consisting of the correspondence of the 
 Board with its friends at home and the missionaries 
 abroad. Copies of the official letters, the others orig- 
 inal bound, indexed and classified according to 
 date and to the missions respectively. These are 
 official and not public, and they are invaluable. 
 
 The friends of Foreign Missions, of course, will 
 not expect this library to become one of the great 
 libraries, but, as a collection of books for particular 
 uses, it will be gradually enlarged. The efficient and 
 gratuitous services of Mr. W. Henry Grant, librarian 
 now in the charge of it, under the direction of the 
 Board, will no doubt tend to increase its usefulness. 
 
 This collection consists now, in 1895, of about seven 
 thousand volumes. 
 
 "CHILDKEN'S FUND" $13,000. 
 
 This fund, as reported by the Board of Foreign 
 Missions in 1866, owed its existence chiefly to the 
 Secretary's pleading for it in the last years of his life.
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 Its object was to aid in the support and education of 
 the children of missionaries. This education can 
 seldom be fully obtained among anti-Christian 
 nations, so that the painful separation of missionary 
 parents and children for some years seems to be 
 unavoidable. It is usually the greatest trial of mis- 
 sionary life a trial in which all Christian parents can 
 give them warm sympathy. It is a trial somewhat 
 mitigated when the mother can accompany her chil- 
 dren for a time. 
 
 The responsibility of deciding on the plans that 
 should be adopted for the children rests on their 
 parents, and while they are living cannot be trans- 
 ferred to other parties. The main thing is that of 
 the Jiome for them ; and usually this should be sought 
 in the circle of family relations and friends, where 
 they may enjoy family ties and influences, acquaint- 
 ances, sympathies, occupations, etc., like other chil- 
 dren. These relatives may find the extra expense in- 
 volved to be inconvenient ; and a " Children' s Fund" 
 may in such cases be quite useful, under the direction 
 of the Missionary Board. Thus far it is the chil- 
 dren's home that their parents will chiefly consider. 
 The question of their school is also important, but 
 less difficult. The number of excellent colleges, 
 boarding academies and seminaries, often ready to 
 admit a scholar or two at reduced rates ; their being 
 within easy reach of the resident homes of the scholars 
 for their vacations ; climatic conditions, in some 
 cases ; lessen the difficulties. 
 
 The " Children's Fund " would probably have been 
 much larger if the active years of the Secretary had 
 been prolonged. A pamphlet, published in 1855, no 
 doubt received his consideration: "Remarks on the
 
 RE-ELECTION DECLINED. 167 
 
 Provision that Should be Made for the Children of 
 Missionaries," New York: A. D. F. Randolph. 
 Recently special buildings have been provided at 
 Wooster, and in connection with the college in that 
 city, under the liberal charge and supervision of a 
 number of ladies. It is believed that great good will 
 result from this arrangement. 
 
 RE-ELECTION AS SECRETARY DECLINED. 
 
 Mr. Lowrie had generally enjoyed good health, and 
 he was accustomed to undertake a large amount of 
 labour. But when he had become over eighty years of 
 age he was subject to infirmities. It became increas- 
 ingly difficult for him to make journeys, which his 
 office seemed at times to call for, or to remain at his 
 desk without fatigue, as in former years. His 
 judgment was clear that the time had arrived when 
 he should withdraw from public service. Accord- 
 ingly on the fourth of May, 1865, he addressed a letter 
 to the Board of Foreign Missions, declining a re- 
 election as a corresponding secretary of the Board. 
 
 The following Minute was then adopted by the 
 Board : 
 
 " Whereas, A communication oias been received 
 from the Hon. Walter Lowrie, declining, on account 
 of his advanced age, and very impaired health, a re- 
 election as one of the secretaries of the Board ; and 
 whereas he has served the Board in this relation of 
 Secretary for thirty-two years with distinguished 
 ability, untiring zeal, and most conscientious faith- 
 fulness, to the unqualified satisfaction of the Church 
 at large, as well as the successive members of the 
 Board, during his protracted term of service : There- 
 fore
 
 168 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 "Resolved, 1st. That this Board receives his com- 
 munication with unfeigned regret, and accepts his 
 declinature solely on the ground stated by himself. 
 Knowing, as this Board does, that the value of his 
 past service cannot be overestimated, and that nothing 
 short of physical disability for the duties of the 
 office has constrained him to withdraw from a work 
 for which he voluntarily abandoned an honourable and 
 lucrative position in the Senate of the United States ; 
 and to which, under an irrepressible conviction of his 
 duty and its importance, and with unwavering faith 
 in its ultimate triumph, he consecrated three of his 
 sons as well as himself. 
 
 " Resolved, 2d. That the Board renders to the 
 Hon. Walter Lowrie its grateful acknowledgments 
 for all his past services, and especially for his gratui- 
 tous counsel and aid, during the last three years, to 
 the Executive Committee of the Board ; and in part- 
 ing with our venerable and honored Secretary we fol- 
 low him with our warmest wishes and prayers that 
 God's presence may go before him, God's grace succor 
 and cheer him, and at last minister to him an abund- 
 ant entrance into the heavenly kingdom. 
 
 "Resolved, 3d. That Mr. Lowrie be invited at his 
 convenience and pleasure to sit as an honorary mem- 
 ber of the Executive Committee of this Board." 
 
 In the General Assembly of May in the same year, 
 the following Minute was adopted, at the instance of 
 its Standing Committee on Foreign Missions, Rev. 
 Robert J. Breckinbridge, D. D., Chairman. 
 
 "We have learned with deep regret that the Hon. 
 Walter Lowrie, for so many years the devoted and 
 efficient senior Secretary of the Board, has, on account
 
 LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 169 
 
 of his advanced age and impaired health, declined a 
 re-election : Therefore 
 
 "Resolved, lt?i. That we take great pleasure in 
 recording our high appreciation of the invaluable 
 services of the retiring Secretary, the Hon. Walter 
 Lowrie, and we tender to him our heartfelt thanks 
 and sympathy, praying that the Gfospel he has striven 
 for so many years to make known to the perishing 
 may be his all-sufficient consolation in his declining 
 years ; and that, in God' s own good time, he may 
 have an abundant entrance ministered to him into 
 the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Cbrist." 
 
 THE LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 In the declining weeks of his life the health of Mr. 
 Lowrie became more and more feeble ; it had been 
 remarkably vigorous in his early and middle-aged 
 years. He continued to enjoy the affectionate min- 
 istries of his family and friends, and to manifest his 
 usual interest in the cause of Missions, until within a 
 short time of his departure. He then met with a fall 
 on a stairway of his house, which soon afterwards 
 showed that there was severe concussion of the brain, 
 attended with increasing weakness ; but there was no 
 want of love and sympathy for his family. There 
 was no impatience, and no word ever spoken that his 
 friends would regret to hear. His worldly affairs had 
 been all arranged, including a liberal bequest to the 
 Board of Foreign Missions. A touching incident 
 occurred after he had become so weak that one of 
 his sons usually sat up with him for the night. At 
 about two o'clock, when all was quiet and still, he 
 began to speak evidently under the impression that
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 he was in a Council of Indian Chiefs and others. He 
 continued to speak, keeping steadily on for ten or 
 twelve minutes ; his line of remarks showed his usual 
 good sense, and his deep feeling as to their welfare 
 was evident. He entreated them to give heed to the 
 instructions of the missionaries, their best friends ; 
 to secure the education of their children ; to make a 
 good use of their Christian privileges ; especially to 
 look unto the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal 
 Saviour. His voice was gradually becoming feebler, 
 until his remarks were ended. It was an address 
 never to be forgotten by his only hearer. 
 
 Not entering on other particulars of his last illness, 
 it is sufficient to say that his last days were in keep- 
 ing with his life. He entered into rest, December 
 14th, 1868, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
 "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, from 
 henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
 from their labours ; and, their works do follow them." 
 
 Memorial action was taken in reference to the de- 
 parture from this life of Mr. Lowrie, by the Execu- 
 tive Committee of the Board of Foreign Missions ; by 
 the Presbytery of New York, with which he was con- 
 nected as an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church ; 
 by the Board of Foreign Missions, at its annual 
 meeting ; and by the General Assembly of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, at its following sessions in 1869. 
 
 The minutes of the Executive Committee are here 
 inserted, as representing the views of the excellent 
 and distinguished men with whom he had been in 
 weekly conference for so many years : 
 
 Minute of the Executive Committee, on the death 
 of Mr. Lowrie, adopted at their meeting, December 
 28th, 1868:
 
 LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 171 
 
 It is with feelings of mournful interest that this 
 Committee records this last Minute in reference to 
 the Hon. Walter Lowrie, who fell asleep in Jesus 
 and entered into his rest on the 14th of December, 
 1868. 
 
 In view of the departure of one who, as the Corres- 
 ponding Secretary of this Board, has been so inti- 
 mately identified with all its interests for a period of 
 thirty years, and to whose wise and efficient adminis- 
 tration it is indebted so largely for its present 
 measures of prosperity be it Resolved, 
 
 T.sl. That whilst we bow submissively to this mani- 
 festation of the Divine will, we cannot but mourn the 
 loss of one whom we all loved and revered, and to 
 whom, even amidst the infirmities of age, we always 
 looked for wise counsel and safe guidance. 
 
 2d. That we record our high estimate of the ability 
 with which he managed the affairs of this Board ; of 
 the indefatigable industry with which he prosecuted 
 its interests ; of the wisdom with which he guided its 
 policy in times of difficulty ; of the humble, earnest 
 and prayerful confidence with which he always car- 
 ried forward the work ; of the pursuasive and effective 
 eloquence with which he urged the claims of missions 
 upon the churches ; and of the self-denial to which he 
 submitted in sacrificing high secular position, in con- 
 secrating his fortune and life, and giving his children 
 to be labourers in the great work of the world's evan- 
 gelization. 
 
 3d. That we recognize in his death a renewed call 
 of Divine providence to this Board to be earnest and 
 faithful ; and to the churches to stand firmly by the 
 cause of missions, and by increased effort and 
 enlarged contributions, to carry forward the work,
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 until the Gospel is preached for a witness to all 
 nations. 
 
 4th. That we express to his bereaved family our 
 tenderest sympathy, and the assurance of our earnest 
 prayers, that whilst God sanctifies this affliction to 
 their good, He may also fill their hearts with all the 
 consolations of His grace, and lead them, by an 
 imitation of an example so fragrant with blessed 
 memories, to the same benevolent consecration and 
 the same undying reward. 
 
 It was further directed that a copy of this Minute 
 be sent to the family of Mr. Lowrie, and that it be 
 published in the fiecord and Foreign Missionary, 
 and other papers.
 
 fn flfcemorfam: 
 THE ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVEEED AT THE 
 FUNERAL OF HON. WALTER LOWRIE, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1868. 
 
 BY THE 
 REV. WM. M. PAXTON, D.D., 
 
 PASTOR OF SAID CHURCH. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
 
 ADDEESS. 
 
 " How beautiful it is for man to die 
 Upon the walls of Zion, to be called 
 Like a watchworn and weary sentinel 
 To put his armor off and rest in Heaven/' 
 
 " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
 forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labours ; and their works do follow them." 
 
 " Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a 
 shock of corn cometh in in his season." 
 
 SUCH was the death of our departed father. He 
 had long stood as a sentinel upon the watch-tower ; 
 and ever and anon, through the hours of the dreary 
 night, lie had answered the inquiry, "Watchman, 
 what of the night ? " and now, watchworn and weary, 
 just as the harbingers of the dawn are changing into 
 the promise of noonday, he puts his armor off, " and 
 lies down to quiet dreams." 
 
 His watch has ended, and so the Lord hath given 
 "his beloved sleep." Blessed death! He "died in 
 the Lord," and now, resting from his long life of 
 labour, "HIS WOEKS," his work of self-sacrifice for 
 Christ ; his work of diligent toil, as he gathered with 
 Him in the harvest ; his work of unflinching fidelity, 
 as he stood with Him in the battle, follow after him, 
 not as the ground of merit, but as the witness of his 
 fidelity, and as the measure to indicate the propor- 
 tion of his reward.
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 He was favored with a long life of uninterrupted 
 usefulness, and now, in full age, with the ripe fruit- 
 age of fourscore years around him, he has come to his 
 grave, like a shock of corn in his season. 
 
 Few men are permitted as he was to finish his 
 course and fulfill his mission. Human life is but a 
 record of purposes broken off in the midst, and of the 
 unwrought projects of usefulness suddenly arrested. 
 David had it in his heart to build the temple ; but he 
 was to die before his work was fulfilled. Moses and 
 Aaron were charged with the work of leading the 
 tribes through the perils of the wilderness into the 
 promised land ; but they had to rest from their 
 labours ere the work was accomplished. And so it 
 often is. The young man is stricken in the dew of 
 his youth, with the vision of life just opening before 
 him ; the husbandman is called to leave his plow in 
 the furrow ; the artist to leave his half -formed 
 picture on the canvass ; the merchant to leave his 
 business, when fortune is hovering before his grasp ; 
 and the minister to vacate his pulpit, while yet his 
 heart is yearning to gather sheaves into the garner. 
 But to our departed father it was given to labour to 
 the last shades of evening, and to see the great work 
 to which he had given the vigor of his life, rise from 
 the smallest beginning, through perils and difficul- 
 ties, into prosperous operation and vigorous estab- 
 lishment ; and then, with the promise of higher 
 success rising before him, just as the door of access 
 to the whole heathen world is open, he is permitted 
 to draw the drapery of his couch around him and 
 say, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in 
 peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." If, 
 when he commenced this work, so feeble and discour-
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 177 
 
 aging in its incipiency, it had been given him to 
 know that he would live to see its present measure of 
 success, he would doubtless have said, "This is all 
 my desire." In a modified sense, he might, like the 
 Master Himself, have said, as he laid down his armor, 
 "I have glorified Thee on the earth ; I have finished 
 the work Thou gavest me to do." 
 
 And now having, like David, "served his genera- 
 tion by the will of God " he has fallen asleep. 
 
 We cannot look upon such a long life of Christian 
 action and benevolent labour, without a blemish to 
 impair his usefulness or mar his memory, terminated 
 only by the decay of nature, and closing in the peace 
 and quietude of happy death, without the pro- 
 foundest satisfaction. Next to the Bible, A GOOD 
 MAN is one of God's best gifts to the world. He is 
 the salt that counteracts its corruption ; the leaven 
 that is to interpenetrate the masses with vital and 
 saving influence ; the light to dissipate darkness ; 
 the mirror to reflect the image of God ; a fountain of 
 living waters ; a source of blessed and beneficent 
 influence in the whole sphere of his life and action. 
 
 When a good man dies, we feel his loss, the World 
 feels it, for one on whose account God loves the world 
 is taken away ; the Nation feels it, for one who was 
 its strength and security is removed. When Elisha 
 looked with streaming eyes after the ascending 
 prophet and exclaimed, "My Father, my Father, the 
 chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof," he 
 uttered in reference to Elijah what is true in reference 
 to every good man, that he is of more value to the 
 nation than munitions of war ; a better protection 
 than chariots and horsemen. But, above all, the 
 Church feels the good man's loss ; a voice that prayed
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 for Zion is hushed, a tongue that testified for Jesus 
 is silenced, a mind that thought for Jesus sleeps, a 
 heart that cherished the solicitudes of the kingdom 
 and travailed in birth for souls is stilled, a star that 
 shone upon our darkness is extinguished, a fountain 
 that refreshed the desert is dried up. But no death 
 does not extinguish the good man's influence. Thou- 
 sands that are in their graves to-day are working in 
 the memories of the living and producing great 
 effects. There are men who have long since mould- 
 ered to ashes with whose names we may electrify a 
 nation and thrill the world. The dead rule the liv- 
 ing. Our deeds live after us, rise again and repro- 
 duce themselves by the agency of minds which we 
 have helped to form, minds which will form their like 
 in never-ending succession. Does not Walter Lowrie 
 still live? live in the spirit of missions, live in the 
 scores of missionaries who caught from him the spark 
 of glowing zeal ; a spark which has kindled into a 
 flame and is now burning with a steady and ever- 
 extending brightness over the heathen world, and 
 which will cast its blessed radiance upon generations 
 yet unborn. 
 
 HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH. Let US then 
 
 listen to the voice which speaks to us from out the 
 events of his well-spent life. 
 
 Walter Lowrie was born in Scotland, in the City 
 of Edinburgh, on the 10th of December, 1784. At 
 the age of eight years he came with his parents to 
 America. 
 
 The family located first in Huntingdon County, 
 Penn., but shortly after removed to Butler County, 
 where they made their permanent residence. 
 
 Walter grew up on his father's farm, performing
 
 Itf MEMORIAM. 179 
 
 such labour as the necessities of the times demanded, 
 and enjoying nothing more in the way of education 
 than the home instruction of winter nights, with the 
 addition perhaps of an occasional quarter's schooling 
 under the direction of the itinerant teachers of those 
 early times. His early instruction in the principles 
 and practice of religion was of the most thorough 
 and accurate character. His parents were both pious, 
 and Presbyterians of that genuine intelligent school 
 who believe in the Westminster Confession and Cate- 
 chism, as the best exposition of the truths of the 
 Bible ; and in the covenant obligation which rests 
 upon parents to train their children in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 His conversion to God occurred in his eighteenth 
 year, during the prevalence of those early revivals in 
 western Pennsylvania, which were distinguished by 
 what was commonly called "the falling exercise." 
 He always spoke with much interest of his recollec- 
 tions of those times, and described his own incipient 
 experiences of religion as connected with these 
 strange exercises. 
 
 One of the first evidences of the existence of 
 genuine piety in his heart, was an earnest desire to 
 become a minister of the Gospel. With this view he 
 commenced a course of study under the direction of 
 the Rev. John McPherrin, the first Presbyterian 
 minister in Butler County. In the pursuit of knowl- 
 edge he manifested the same diligence and persever- 
 ing determination which has given success to his 
 whole life. After making some proficiency in Latin, 
 he determined to commence the study of Greek, and, 
 as Greek books were at that time very rare, he per- 
 formed a journey of thirty miles on foot to procure a
 
 180 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWR1E. 
 
 Greek lexicon. By persevering industry lie attained 
 to a knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew which 
 would put to shame many who have all the advan- 
 tages of an Academic education. Providential circum- 
 stances, however, hindered the fulfillment of his pur- 
 pose to become a minister of the Gospel ; but with the 
 same determination to devote his life to the glory of 
 God, he entered upon other pursuits. His secular 
 life was such as to win the confidence and esteem of 
 the whole community in which he lived. Accord- 
 ingly, in 1811, at the age of twenty-seven, he was 
 elected as the Representative of that district in the 
 Senate of Pennsylvania. This honourable station he 
 held for seven years, during which time he rose to 
 such a position in the confidence of the people of the 
 whole State, that in 1818 he was elected as the Repre- 
 sentative of Pennsylvania in the Senate of the United 
 States. In this position of honour, second only to that 
 of President or Yice-President, he continued for six 
 years. 
 
 This was a period of great interest in the history 
 of our country, owing to the importance of the meas- 
 ures then agitated, and the great men whose influence 
 guided the councils of the nation, Webster, Clay, 
 Calhoun, Randolph, Benton, and many others scarcely 
 less illustrious, were members of the Senate, and 
 their great powers were put forth in the discussion of 
 the measure well known as the "Missouri Com- 
 promise." 
 
 Among these distinguished Senators Walter 
 Lowrie occupied a position of honourable prominence. 
 His great integrity won their confidence, whilst his 
 peculiar sagacity and practical judgment led them to 
 seek his advice and rely upon his opinions. I am
 
 22f MEMORIAM. 181 
 
 informed, by one who was present at that time, that 
 he was regarded by the Senators who knew him best 
 as an authority upon all questions of political history 
 and constitutional law. 
 
 During the discussion of the Missouri Compromise 
 he made a speech, which is described as one of great 
 power and force of argument, in which he took strong 
 grounds against the extension of slavery, and uttered 
 his strong protest against the establishment of slave 
 labour upon a single foot of free territory. 
 
 But his influence in the Senate was not only that 
 of a statesman, but also of a Christian. He had 
 been ordained a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church in Butler, and when he went to the capitol 
 he carried with him the savour of vital godliness. He, 
 with Harmer Denny, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and 
 other pious Senators and Representatives, founded 
 the Congressional Prayer-meeting, which has ever 
 since mingled the influences of prayer and faith with 
 the councils of the nation. He was also one of the 
 founders of the Congressional Temperance Society, 
 and was for a long time a member of the Executive 
 Committee of the American Colonization Society. 
 
 At the expiration of his term of service as Senator, 
 he was elected Secretary of the Senate of the Un 
 States, in which office he continued for a period of 
 twelve years. During this term of his public life, the 
 Providence of God was preparing him for another 
 sphere. 
 
 As a member of the Committee of the United States 
 Senate on Indian Affairs, he became deeply interested 
 in the condition of the savage tribes, and much con- 
 cerned for their spiritual welfare. About the same 
 time his eldest son devoted himself to the work of
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 missions, and embarked with his father's benediction 
 to the mission field in India. In this way his heart 
 was enlisted, first, for the Indians upon our own 
 border, and then, for the heathen in distant climes, 
 whither his son had gone with the word of life. 
 
 Simultaneous with this was an ordering of Divine 
 providence by which he became deeply interested in 
 the study of the Chinese language. It seemed singu- 
 lar to see a statesman, amid the cares and labours of 
 public life, rising two hours earlier in the morning to 
 study the language of a people so distant from us, 
 and in so little sympathy with ourselves. But such 
 was the ordering of that strange providence, which 
 leads us in a way that we know not. Whilst God, 
 by this combination of circumstances, was preparing 
 him for his future work, he was at the same time pre- 
 paring the place which he was to occupy. A small 
 missionary society, supported by a few synods in the 
 West, had been organized in Pittsburgh ; but its 
 patronage was small and its sphere limited. This 
 society, however, under the efficient direction of Dr. 
 Swift, its first secretary, awakened such an interest 
 in missions as led to a general desire that the work 
 should be undertaken by the General Assembly upon 
 a larger scale, and in behalf of the whole Church. 
 When at length it was determined to extend the mis- 
 sion work and prosecute it with more vigor, and the 
 question arose, "who shall take the superintendence 
 of this great interest," the same providence, which 
 had prepared the heart of Walter Lowrie for the 
 work, directed to his election. 
 
 Obedient to this call, he resigned his office in the 
 Senate in 1836, and entered upon this new and untried 
 field of consecrated labour. The office which he held
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 183 
 
 in the Senate was of such a confidential and respon- 
 sible character, that it was unaffected by the changes 
 of administration in the Government. He had but 
 two predecessors in office, and both held the trust 
 until death. His resignation of a position so honour- 
 able, so lucrative, and which he could have held for 
 life, was the occasion of much surprise ; and when he 
 was asked why he did it, he replied, "that he chose 
 the place in which there would be the most sacrifice 
 and the best prospect of usefulness for Christ." The 
 spirit with which he thus entered upon his under- 
 taking was in itself the augury of success. The work 
 was new, and encompassed on every side with diffi- 
 culties. The Church was to be aroused, the spirit of 
 missions enkindled, the system of operation was to 
 be organized, fields of labour to be sought, missionaries 
 to be prepared, and the whole plan and policy of a 
 vast system, encompassing the ends of the earth, to 
 be arranged and perfected. But to this work he 
 brought a heart prepared of God, a mind matured 
 and disciplined by action in difficult fields of thought, 
 and experience developed by varied contact with the 
 world, and a knowlege of business arrangement 
 acquired in the diversified functions of his secular 
 experience. 
 
 His wisdom and executive capacity in the office 
 were only equalled by his power to enlist attention 
 and awaken interest in behalf of his cause. With no 
 pretension to oratory, he went before the people in 
 the most humble way, presenting in a conversational 
 style his simple statement ; but, warming with the 
 deep interest of his theme, he grew eloquent, and 
 seldom closed without riveting his subject upon the 
 conscience, or moving his audience to tears.
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 He had wise and able counsellors in the Board and 
 in the Executive Committee, and often the assistance 
 of the most eloquent voices in the Church to commend 
 his cause ; but, during the whole thirty years of his 
 incumbency, Walter Lowrie was himself the efficient 
 head of the missionary work, and the controlling 
 power in its administration. 
 
 I need scarcely indicate the results. 
 
 The cause of missions is securely established in the 
 confidence and affection of the Church. Its policy is 
 settled, its missionaries have gone forth to the ends 
 of the earth to the savages in our own wilderness, 
 to India, Siam, China, Japan, Africa, South America, 
 to the Papal countries of Europe^ and to God's 
 ancient people, the Jews. 
 
 With a success that might well compensate for a 
 life of toil, with the ripe fruitage of his work before 
 him, Walter Lowrie laid himself down to rest, and 
 now sleeps in Jesus. 
 
 As we review his record and estimate his character, 
 its first and leading feature is CONSECRATION, SELF- 
 SACRIFICING CONSECRATION TO THE GLORY OF GOD IN 
 
 THE WORLD'S EVANGELIZATION. 
 
 No one who knew him ever doubted that he had any 
 chief aim but the glory of God, in the whole plan and 
 action of his life. He had learned, by a deep experi- 
 ence, that he was not his own, but bought with a 
 price ; and therefore he sought to glorify God in his 
 body and spirit. To this his consecration was entire. 
 He could say with as much truth as Paul, "This one 
 thing I do." No man ever devoted himself with a 
 more entire concentration to any one work than did 
 Walter Lowrie to the work of Missions. He gave to 
 this one thing his whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 185 
 
 His devotion, too, was marked by SELF-SACEIFICE. 
 He sacrificed political distinction, civil station, ease, 
 emolument, personal preferment ; in a word, every- 
 thing that the world calls gain 3 he counted loss for 
 the glory of Christ in the work of missions. 
 
 He was never willing to receive in the way of salary 
 as much as the Board was willing to give him. He 
 used his private means first, and whatever more was 
 necessary to meet his expenses, that much, and no 
 more, would he receive in the way of compensation. 
 For the last few years, if I mistake not, he declined 
 receiving any salary whatever. 
 
 But his chief sacrifice was the surrender of his 
 sons to labour, and some of them to die in the mission- 
 ary field. His third son, Rev. Walter M. Lowrie, 
 having caught from his father the spirit of zeal and 
 consecration, was among the first missionaries who 
 sailed to China under the care of the Presbyterian 
 Board. After a short period of effective labour, he fell 
 a martyr under the murderous hands of Chinese 
 pirates on the 18th of August, 1847. " He was a man 
 of eminent talents, an accomplished scholar, an able 
 minister of the Gospel, and a faithful and devoted 
 missionary." 
 
 His fourth son, Rev. Reuben Lowrie, who through 
 all his early education had looked forward to an 
 association with his brother in the missionary field, 
 was happily prepared both by providence and grace 
 to step forward and fill the place made vacant by the 
 death of his lamented brother. But he also, after a 
 short period of six years labour, fell a sacrifice to 
 assiduous work and the enervating effect of an un- 
 propitious climate. His brother missionaries speak 
 of him as " a man of fine talent, earnest piety, sound
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 scholarship and unwavering devotedness to the early- 
 formed purpose of his life, even amid the ravages of 
 disease." 
 
 His eldest son, Dr. John C. Lowrie, of whose 
 earlier devotion to missions we have already spoken, 
 as having drawn his father' s heart into a closer sym- 
 pathy with this great work, after a period of labour in 
 India, was compelled to return with shattered health, 
 but has since been engaged in the same work at home. 
 
 But, passing from these recitals of self-sacrifice, we 
 may designate as a second marked characteristic of 
 our lamented secretary His ABIDING CONFIDENCE IN 
 THE SUCCESS OF MISSIONS, AS FOUNDED UPON THE 
 DIVINE PROMISE. 
 
 He evinced the deepest conviction of the perishing 
 condition of the heathen, and of the necessity of the 
 Gospel, not simply to ameliorate their condition, but 
 as absolutely necessary to their salvation. Persuaded 
 that the ascending Master had devolved upon the 
 Church the duty of sending this Gospel as the ap- 
 pointed means of salvation into all the world, he 
 never doubted for a moment its ultimate success. He 
 went forward with the confidence of a man who knew 
 God' s purpose and who meant to fulfill it. He be- 
 lieved that the enthroned Mediator governs the world 
 in the interest of His Church, and that, therefore, the 
 kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms 
 of our Lord and of His Christ. 
 
 In this confidence he walked by faith, and to him 
 it was as clear an evidence as if he had beheld by 
 sight the end for which he hoped. 
 
 A third feature of his life work is THE PER- 
 SEVERING DILIGENCE WITH WHICH HE EMPLOYED 
 MEANS FOR THE SUCCESS OF HIS UNDERTAKING.
 
 W MEMOR1AM. 187 
 
 His faith was no indolent repose in the Divine 
 sovereignty and efficiency ; but a vigorous effort to 
 obtain G-od's help, in the use of the means of His 
 appointment. 
 
 He believed that as human hands must roll away 
 the stone from the grave of Lazarus before Jesus 
 called him to life, so human work must do what it 
 can for the heathen, and when thus done, in believing 
 expectation, Jesus will speak the word of power that 
 will raise the dead. Hence all his plans contemplated 
 work, diligent, persevering worTc. He worked him- 
 self, worked unceasingly, and expected others to be 
 diligent, always abounding in the work of the Lord. 
 
 But the fourth and perhaps the chief distinction 
 in our departed father was THE CHAEACTER OF HIS 
 RELIGION. It was a religion of PRINCIPLE. He acted 
 from a conviction of right and duty, and at the point 
 of his conscience. He was never carried away by 
 emotion. He had the tenderest sympathy for the 
 suffering, and always melted when he spoke of the 
 love of Jesus : but he never suffered his emotions to 
 sway his judgment. 
 
 He was never influenced by excitement, or carried 
 away from his position by epidemical impulses. He 
 had a calm mind, a clear discrimination, a sagacity 
 that perceived the truth amidst much mist and con- 
 fusion, a judgment of men and things, cautious 
 indeed, but certain in its conclusions, and therefore 
 firm and persistent in their maintenance. It was this 
 that made him a man of decision and will. His 
 simple question was, What is truth, what is duty? 
 and when this was ascertained, he knew of no motives 
 of policy or expediency to make him halt or swerve 
 in his course of action.
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 It was this that gave him power. He was a man 
 to mould circumstances, and not to be moulded by 
 them. This is indeed the element of all true great- 
 ness. A goodly purpose, influenced by benevolent 
 feeling, under the guidance of a clear judgment and 
 a resistless will, forms the men who make their mark 
 upon the age, and carry forward great enterprises to 
 successful completion. 
 
 But time would fail to amplify further this review 
 of his life and character. 
 
 He is gone, and we miss him miss him not only 
 in the Board, in which he was the presiding genius, 
 but we miss him in this church of which he has been 
 for so many years the beloved and venerated elder ; 
 miss him in the social circle of friends and acquaint- 
 ances, who delighted to pay him reverence ; miss him 
 in his family, where he was the centre of interest and 
 affection, and where, most of all, they mourn that he 
 is not. 
 
 Many a heart is saddened by his departure ; many 
 a missionary family scattered over the earth will 
 weep tears of sorrow when these tidings reach their 
 distant homes. 
 
 BUT BEING DEAD, HE YET SPEAKETH. 
 
 HE SPEAKS TO THE CHUKCH summoning it to 
 carry on the work which he has begun ; to stand by 
 the Board, and by increased contributions to enable 
 it, not only to sustain the labourers now in the field, 
 but to carry forward the standard and place it upon 
 the outmost wall. 
 
 HE SPEAKS TO THE BOAED to the men who stood 
 around him in the darker hours of the night, and 
 says, as it were, "Brethren, be faithful unto death." 
 
 HE SPEAKS TO THE MISSIONARIES IN THE FIELD
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 189 
 
 encouraging them in the conflict with the powers of 
 darkness. As the Scottish chief who had fallen in 
 the battle, when he saw his lines waver, arose upon 
 his elbow, and, as the blood poured from his wounds, 
 exclaimed, "Children, I am not dead, I am with you 
 still," so it would seem if our departed missionary 
 chieftain was saying with his dying breath, "Chil- 
 dren, I am with you still. Stand fast in the battle. 
 Scale every wall. Pull down every stronghold, and 
 let no man be wanting now, when the cry goes out, 
 To the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord 
 against the mighty."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Page 
 
 Born in Edinburgh, 1784 Notices of Family . 1 
 
 Emigrated to America, 1792, and Settled in Penn- 
 sylvania . . . . . .2 
 
 Winter Travelling in the Allegheny Mountains . 4 
 
 Farming Life and Mills; Eeligious Privileges Lim- 
 ited . . . . . .6-7 
 
 Unusual Keligious Actions, Known as " the Falling 
 Exercises," on which see his Eemarks . 7-8-10 
 
 DIVINE EEVELATION .... 32-81 
 
 PUBLIC OE Civic LIFE: 
 
 Notices of Mr. Lowrie's Services at Harrisburgh and 
 Washington ..... 20-26 
 
 FAMILY LIFE: 
 
 Withdrawal from Congress . . . .28 
 
 Death of Mrs. Lowrie .... 28 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS: 
 
 MISSIONS TO EASTERN ASIA: Farewell Counsels 82-96 
 MISSIONS TO AFRICA: Farewell Counsels . 97-108 
 
 Missionary Secretaryship .... 109 
 Years of Special Interest .... 112 
 Offices of the Board Kemoved to New York . 113 
 
 -Visits to Southern Churches . . . 115 
 
 Mission Funds Faithfully Applied . . . 116 
 
 Extracts from Annual Eeports . . 118-121 
 
 Gospel Preached by Native Converts . .121 
 
 Missionaries to China in 1844 122
 
 192 MEMOIRS OF WALTER LOWRIE. 
 
 Shipwreck in Chinese Seas .... 124 
 
 v Walter M. Lowrie Murdered by Chinese Pirates . 125 
 His Memoirs ...... 126 
 
 Missions in Siam and Laos . . . 127 
 
 Mission to the Jews ..... 128 
 
 Mission "Work in Papal Europe . . . 130 
 
 'Missions to American Indians . . 134-159 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS: 
 
 Collecting Agents or Field Secretaries . . 160 
 
 A Good Working Plan . . . .161 
 
 Deputations to the Missions . . . 162 
 
 Mission House Library .... 164 
 
 Children's Fund ..... 165 
 
 Ee-election as Secretary Declined . . .167 
 
 The Board's Minute . . . .167 
 
 General Assembly's Minute . . . .168 
 
 Mr. Lowrie's Illness and Death . . . 169 
 
 Memorial Action ..... 170 
 
 The Executive Committee's Minute, December 28, 
 1868 . . . . . .171 
 
 IN MEMORIAM: 
 
 An Address Delivered at the Funeral of the Hon. 
 Walter Lowrie, in the First Presbyterian Church, 
 New York, December 16, 1868, by the Kev. William 
 M. Paxton, D.D., Published by Eequest of the 
 Executive Committee of the Board of Foreign 
 Missions ...... 173
 
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