PULPIT PORTRAITS; OR, SKETCHES OF EMINENT LIVING AMERICAN DIVINES. BY SIGMA. [Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by CHARLES W. HOLDEN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.] XVII. REV. EDWIN H. CHAPIN. ENGRAVED FOR HOLDEN, BY J. W. ORR AND BROTHER, FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE BY A. MORAND. EDWIN H. CHAPIN was born on the 29th of | In no long time he returned to Bennington; and December, 1814, in Union Village, Washington was in the seminary at that place, as also postCounty, New York. His family removed from there when he was six months of age. When he was about four years of age he came to New York city. He continued in this city for eight years, attending school during most of the time. At the age of twelve he accompanied his parents to Bennington, Vermont; and at the end of one year and a half removed with them to Boston. master of the village for some time. The remainder of the time, until he was twenty-three, was spent, more or less, in study and reading. Mr. Chapin was in a law office in Troy for nine months. For some time he was connected in the editorial department with the " Magazine and Advocate," published at Utica. It was when connected with this, at the age of twenty-three, which ambition engenders. But genius, though unassisted, can accomplish even this. And secondly, we ascribe genius to Mr. Chapin because of his style. It is remarkable for its purity and simplicity. We say remarkable, because it is uncommon for such a style to result from the unsystematic education which Mr. Chapin has had. In such cases there is apt to be an exuberance amounting to extravagance, and a dressing up of thought so as to smother it. But with Mr. C. this is not so. His choice of words is sensible, his selection of appellatives nice, his illustrations natural, and his sentences forcible. His style is indeed quite Saxon, with much of the Saxon strength and vigor. We would compare it with that of Dr. Orville Dewey, though without asserting its equality. that he entered the ministry. He was first set- | tainment of his present distinguished position as tled at Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1838, a pulpit orator. He has gained this eminence by where he remained until December, 1840. He personal, unassisted effort. He was favored with then removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and no thorough early training to start him, not even preached there during six years. From thence a college education to assist him, and no patronhe went to Boston, and remained there till the | izing friends to "boost" him. And still he is a 1st of May, 1848, when he received and accepted great preacher-a true orator. The enlightened a call to settle in New York city, and is now the are attracted by the comprehensiveness of his pastor of the Church in Murray-st. thoughts, and the refined by the exquisiteness of This is a brief biography. One would not be his illustrations; while the rude are charmed by likely to infer much from it. And yet Mr. Chapin his simplicity, and the ignorant moved by his earis a great man. He has two important elements nestness. It is a great thing thus to concentrate of greatness-genius and goodness. The course on oneself the admiration of such divers tastes. of his life has moved as smoothly as the stream- Few can do it, with all the faculties which teachlet flows among the meadows. Its outward cir-ers and professors furnish, and all the industry cumstance neither startles by its wonders, nor awes by its grandeur. It is simply the external life of one who has followed on in the path that Providence opened before him; prompt to embrace an opportunity, but not anxious from the lack of one; making his way only so fast as it was made for him. Hence its upward course has been sure, while it has been rapid. It is a life of little variety-there is some moving from place to place, but only within a limited compass. It is such a life, in its outward circumstance, as many lead, whose departure from one place is equally unnoticed with their arrival at another. And yet it has been a great life-a life worth living-one which will not be forgotten even if it should now go out at its meridian, whose influence will never perish, and whose last sand will never drop away unnoticed. It is the inner life that, in this In reading his writings, one is often reminded of case, absorbs the interest. This bears no corres- Dr. Dewey. Perhaps this similarity has resulted pondence to the outer one. This has been replete from the fact of their both having devoutly studied with incident, and variety, and rich experience. the same great master, Channing; or, perhaps, There have been the youthful aspirations and the still more from their adoption of very similar views manhood's struggles the early misgivings and in religion and in politics, and having similar tastes the later success-the besetting temptations, and in literature and æsthetics. There is in the style gropings for the truth, and searchiugs for the hid- of both, to a great degree, the same elegance of den word, and longings for the Good and Right. carriage and grace of movement, the same simple And it is a life in which these misgivings and ease, set off with rich adornings and luxurious ilsearchings have come at last to merge themselves lustrations. There is the same freedom from marinto the responsibilities of guiding and instructing ring excrescences and striking peculiarities. Dr. others, and into untiring efforts to instil personal Dewey has made the greater advances, but Mr. convictions. It is the life of a self-made man,- Chapin is on the same path. It is very uncomof one who, with no unusual early advantages, mon for a person to attain such a finish of style and many disadvantages, has worked his way up-in such a brief period, with no systematic devotion ward and onward, till he ranks among the best to study in early life. It proves that there was pulpit orators of America. Such a life may ap- innate genius in the man; a natural perception of pear tame on its surface, but oh! what revela- what was beautiful, and graceful, and appropriate, tions would startle and awe us, if, drawing aside and true to nature; that his judgment and taste the veil of sense, we could scan the immortal could be depended upon as guides, without the page upon which thought and feeling is engraved, training which Sallust, and Cicero, and Homer, and note all the experiences through which that and Demosthenes are made to impart. His Misoul has lived, during the upbuilding of that spirit-nerva style sprang forth from his brain-finished, ual temple, as, from the foundation, stone by stone full formed, panoplied for service. Such a style has been laid up to the crowning dome ! was conceived and begotten by Genius. Yet If we could see, when the winds of skepticism Genius did not do it all. Work, severe, long conwere howling around it, and the tempests of temp-tinued work, has been laid out some time or other. tation beating upon it, and the floods-the surging floods of simple enticements sweeping across it, how it STOOD; and how at last the light broke in upon it, and a heavenly peace pervaded it-if we would see all this, we should stand in awed silence before the revelation! We have styled Mr. Chapin a man of genius. We think him to be so-first, because of the at For many years Mr. C. has labored steadily and steadfastly in the path of self-improvement. Thirdly: We deem Mr. Chapin a man of genius because of his comprehensive views of truth. He recognises and acknowledges two sides, nay, a dozen sides, if there are so many-and looks at them calmly and fairly. He is not hampered by the shackles of party, nor squeezed into the strait jacket of preconceived opinions. He is ready to give ear to a novel proposition, weighing its claims candidly, deciding upon its merits dispassionately. It is the truth, he wants and must have; not the upbuilding of his own sect, nor the propping up of early prejudices. But he stands on the higher ground that overlooks all the barricades of party, recognising the right wherever it exists, and honoring the true-hearted wherever they may stand. We have also spoken of Mr. Chapin as a man of goodness. In the use of this term we would not be misunderstood. We do not mean one who fulfils all the manifold requirements that the various relations of existence set forth-the relations of the creature to the Creator, of the redeemed to the Redeemer, of the child to the parent, the brother to the brother, the friend to the friend, the citizen to the state, the man to Humanity. We may have been peculiarly unfortunate, but we have failed to meet with the man who, in such a use of the term, could be called a man of goodness. We understand, however, that there are such " out West." Neither do we mean that class of calm, precise, unexceptionable persons, who have not originality enough to leave a beaten track, or energy enough to do a thing out of the old routine, -sans genius, sans enterprise, sans independence, sans everything. But we mean by a man of goodness one who is possessed of an universal integrity, who is honest with his fellow-men, honest with himself, honest with his God. Not only one who deals fairly in business-that is the simplest, cheapest form of honesty, which every man must have, as he must have a coat to his back, to be respectable-but that higher, nobler form of honesty, which recognises truth even when "trodden under foot of men," and is willing to suffer for righteousness sake. We mean one who will stoop to no artifice and crouch to no meanness; who will nevertamper with policy, or hold converse with expediency; and no sooner in practice than in precept make the end justify the means. We mean one whose heart yearns for the good of his fellow-man, who labors to extend goodness through the world, and makes her cause the great purpose of his life; who lives for the truth, thinks in the truth, and would die by the truth-whose joy is Christ, whose strength is God, whose hope is Heaven! We deem Mr. C. to be such an one 1st. Because of his fair-mindedness to which we have already referred. In this statement we have not the slightest reference to his theological views. He may have attained to the truth or he may not. But he has the honest heart, and that we deem of higher importance than the corrected intellect. education, and, when residing in Massachusetts, "Thought is deeper than all speech, The latter of these is Mr. C.'s acted motto. Indeed, there is very much of the genuine or. ator in Mr. Chapin's discourse. He has more native oratorical genius, we think, than any of the distinguished clergymen whom we have had the honor to describe. His voice is rich, deep-toned, and sonorous, possessed of volume and strength. Still it is to some extent uncultivated, and might, by proper exercise, be much improved. His delivery is frequently so earnest as to be impassioned. He breaks forth in strains of stirring eloquence, and seems to lose himself in the excitement of the subject. At such times the hearer is spell-bound, and the nerves thrill, and the tear starts forth unbidden. He combines some of the excellencies of Tyng and Beecher. He possesses to a great degree the fluency of the former, the command of language, the delicious flow of words; while he has the impetuousness, the sweeping, out-bursting, avalanche-like manner of the latter, so much modified as to be not only endurable, but agreeable. With all these natural excellencies it is to be regretted that his manner is faulty. It does not harmonize with his style. The latter is simple and chaste, while it is forcible and pointed-the former lacks simplicity. It is excessive and strained at times-he is inclined to overdo the matter. His reading sometimes partakes of the same fault. There is an excessive distinctness of articulation each word, nay, each syllable is rolled out in repellant isolation from its neighbor. One feels 2d. We consider him a man of goodness be- tempted to count the vowels, so distinctly are cause of his philanthropy. His heart is open to they uttered. This, to be sure, is erring on the the sorrows of the unfortunate, and his ear atten- right side. Still it is an error-an excess, and as tive to the calls of the needy. He sees much sin such must be condemned. His manner needs a and suffering, and degradation in the world, and rigorous training. The fault is the result of the he would do his part to remove them and leave lack of this in early life. In thought and style he the world better than he found it. He is an earn- has wonderfully supplied the deficiency of early est up-builder of social and moral reform. His education, but the want of it is yet manifest in his voice has been eloquent in behalf of temperance, manner. Attention to this one thing would corand oppression has been denounced by his manly rect it. So admirably has he succeeded in formtones. He has interested himself in public schooling his style, that he certainly can accomplish the tendered, with the author's sympathy and affecTo the sorrowing, then, this little volume is tion. Upon its pages he has poured out some of the sentiments of his own heartfelt experience, knowing that they will find a response in theirs, and hoping that the book may do a work of consolation and of healing. If it impresses upon any the general sentiment it contains-the sentiment of religious resignation and triumph in take the Christian view of sorrow; if it shall affliction; if it shall cause any tearful vision to teach any troubled soul to endure and hope; if it shall lead any weary spirit to the Fountain of consolation; in one word, if it shall help any, by them into a crown, I shall be richly rewarded, Christ's strength, to weave the thorns that wound and, I trust, grateful to that God to whose service I dedicate this book, invoking his blessing upon much easier task of trimming the redundancy of "Resignation," "The Mission of Little Children," manner. In school days he was fond of decla- " Our Relations to the Departed," "The Voices mation, and practised it much, and probably at of the Dead." The following is from the beautiful that early period faults were fastened on him, of Preface to this work, which sufficiently sets forth which he has never rid himself. Still one very its purpose: soon becomes accustomed to their peculiarities, so that they do not detract from the full momentum of his oratory. Faults are forgotten in the strength of the thought, the glow of earnestness, the eloquence of appeal, and the surpassing beauty of illustration. He holds the minds of his audience within the grasp of his oratory, carries them with him up the dizzy height, and down to the awful depth. All are unwaveringly attentive. Quiet reigns through the crowded building. His audiences, too, are large. It is no uncommon occasion for his church to be overfull. A large number of the young men of the city attend upon his preaching. He has great influence over them. Mr. Chapin's manner is, to a certain extent, the consequence of his physical formation. He has an energetic, thick-set body, a strong constitution and nervous temperament. In the pulpit his appearance is rather commanding. His form seems to dilate, and his forehead to swell, as he warms with the interest of the subject; and then his A larger volume of Mr. C.'s is entitled "Duties whole bearing is striking and interesting. He has of Young Women." It is a collection of Disgreat freedom and power of gesture, abundance courses on the following subjects:-" The Position of action, ease of movement, and perfect self- of Woman," "Culture," Accomplishments," possession. His muscular arm moves most vigor-"Duty," "Female Influence," The Maternal only and forcibly, nay, sometimes passionately, Relation.' This is a very valuable book. It sets and the action adds power to his words and im- forth the true character of woman, her mission, petus to his appeals. and her best education. We regret that our limits Mr. Chapin has performed a great amount of forbid the insertion of extracts. literary labor. In addition to his work in connec- Mr. Chapin has just published a revised edition tion with benevolent organizations, and his care of his work, entitled Duties of Young Men," ful preparation of sermons, he has published sev-comprising six Discourses on Self-Duties," Soeral volumes. In 1848 he published a beautiful cial Duties," Duties of Young Men as Citizens," little book, entitled "Hours of Communion," de- " Intellectual Duties and Moral Duties," with the signed especially to be used in connection with " Concluding Lecture." This work is most healthy the Lord's Supper. It breathes an elevated, reli- in its influence. It is eminently calculated to ingious, holy sentiment. We make the following spire the heart of the young man to earnestness brief extract from it: of action, and to solemn, religious duty. It is accomplishing much good in its silent mission. it." 66 Besides these works, a number of Mr. C.'s of which we have space to notice. His "Fareoccasional sermons have been published-only two at the opening of the session in the year 1844. The former is a beautiful and affecting Discourse, setting forth the relations of a Pastor to his Flock; the latter is impressive and earnest, presenting, in a lofty, noble sentiment, the relation of the State to the Individual, and the personal responsibility "Religion, then, consists in being good-in having right affections. It is a principle, a life within. All good deeds issue spontaneously from it, as precious fruit from the healthy tree. All well Discourse," at Boston, and his "Election natural results are spontaneous. The diamond sparkles without effort, and the flowers open im- Sermon," delivered, according to established pulsively beneath the summer rain. And true re-usage, before the Legislature of Massachusetts, ligion is a spontaneous thing-as natural as it is to weep, to love, or to rejoice. No stiff, cumbrous, artificial form can be substituted for it. The soul that possesses it breathes it out in good words and good deeds, from a natural impulse. It rises to God in devotion, it flows out to man in kindness, as naturally as the dew-drop rises to the sun, or the river rushes to the sea. It acts not from mere interest or fear. It is seraphic exultation of being, throbbing in harmony with the will of God, from which right action follows as a matter of course. As God does good because he is good, so does theness is "the chief end of man," and that the proof truly religious soul." In the same year was also published "The Crown of Thorns," being a collection of Discourses on the following subjects:-" The Christian View of Sorrow," "Christian Consolation in Loneliness," of the Citizen. be glad to comment if our limits allowed. He Upon Mr. C.'s philosophical views we would has some admirable notions. We can only allude to his belief that holiness rather than happi of the existence of God, as a personal being, does not come from the evidence of Design, but is derived from self-consciousness, and from the wants and sympathies of the spiritual nature. His conceptions are clear, and his presentation of subjects beautifully fair, all-sided, and lucid. Yet in thought there is a deeper depth sometimes unat-truths of Christianity, that these differences will tained, and a broader Philosophy, not always be slighted, absorbed, forgotten. There may even comprehended. Yet in this, only the slightest be sects, but there will be no sectarianism; there criticism is deserved. may be different titles, but there will be no bigotry. No church will immure itself, calling itself the only true one and opening its batteries on all withNo one will say, "I alone have the truth and I have all the truth." In the words of Mr. Chapin," a man of this kind lives as much in the spirit of true, liberal Christianity, as he who digs him an abode in the cleft of the enormous mountain, wherein come glances only of the golden day, and fitful breathings of the fragrant summer, lives in the wide open sunshine and the genial atmosphere." The theological views of Mr. Chapin, as gathered from his works, are these: He is called a Universalist, by which appellation is generally un-out. derstood one who believes that, at death, all mankind, whether good or bad, will enter an abode of happiness and holiness. In this understanding Mr. C. is not an Universalist. He would be class ed with that portion of his denomination styled Restorationists. He believes that every soul will ultimately be restored to a state of holiness, and to one of happiness-that being a consequent of holiness. He believes that Heaven is a state And after dwelling on the blessed effects on the rather than a place, and Hell likewise the for- church and in the church, of the reign of the truly mer being the state into which the redeemed, the liberal spirit, when all strifes, and jealousies, and latter into which the unforgiven pass through the wars, and tortures in the name of Christ shall have gates of Death. That the time of probation does for ever ceased, let one imagine the results on an not close at death, but that God's mercy and sav- unbelieving world. As the greatest obstacle to ing grace will ever be manifested while there re- the progress of Christianity has been the contramain any wicked upon whom to bestow them.- dicting example of the church, so the great means He believes that Christ is our Mediator and Re- of advance will be its true manifestation in the deemer, that he came into the world to save sin-lives of those who profess it. A truly liberal spirit ners, and offered himself as an atonement, but not implies the right appreciation and possession of as a price paid to offended justice, or a satisfac- the essentials of Christianity, the partaking of its tion for broken law. He does not hold to the life. So in that day, when this heavenly spirit "commercial" view of the atonement, but under-pervades the Christian church it will become such stands atonement to mean at-one-ment, at-onemind; that is, the death of Christ was a necessary means to bring "into one mind," into heartfelt harmony, the separated, hostile spirits of a Holy God and sinful men. He does not believe that Christ is God, but that He represents God. leaving the assignment of his rank in the seals of being as comparatively unessential. He believes that in the case of the impenitent a change of heart and of life is an essential prerequisite to holiness, and consequently to future happiness-that forgiveness" on the part of God will follow repentance, being an act of mercy from God, wholly undeserved.« We have thus imperfectly sketched the theological views of Mr. Chapin-because we think a general interest will be felt in knowing them, and because they are peculiar, so far as peculiarity consists in their being held by a portion of the sect to which Mr. C. belongs, and in not being held by a large body of Christians. Mr. Chapin is one of those who look forward with hope to a day when liberality shall take the place of exclusiveness and sympathy the place of persecution; when a noble and wide, because a Christian comprehensiveness shall prevail; when Christianity shall be regarded as a life taking hold of the soul, instead of a collection of dead dogmas for the intellect alone. How glorious, and lovely, and heavenly such a day! It will be the dawn of the more glorious millenium. Then the Christian will recognise the Christian wherever he is, and whatever name he may bear; and their hearts will flow together in unchecked religious sympathy-pure and kindred streams. Differences may still exist and without concession; but they will hold their appropriate inferior place, and not come in to hinder the flow of Christian communion. There will be such a full and blessed agreement in the essential living indeed, and be a shining light to attract, and guide, and save. Then shall we see and know the power of Christianity, and the complaint of its impotency will be hushed and forgotten in the yielding of all flesh to its divine authority. The waters of the church, then kindred and pure, will flow into one river which may well be called "the river of life," into which all the streams of humanity shall pour themselves, and so the world, purified and watered, shall become the garden of the Lord!" We close with the following extract from "I say now that he who is not a religious, is not a truly moral man. Doubtless there are many who discharge well their duties as citizens and friends-but this does not comprise all their duty. There is to be cultivated a pure and vital principle in the heart, which moves them to act with constant reference to the two great laws of love to God and love to man-which makes the Bible and conscience the arbiters of every deed, and sets a watch upon the motives and the thoughts. This the well-spring that gushes with Eternal Life, and that flows out upon the world in a morality that is sure and blessed. Failing to establish this, they fail to perform all their obligations as moral beings, and of course, although they may bear the name of moral men, they are not truly and completely so. Religion is a development of our moral nature, in which the soul holds communion with God, loves virtue, and renounces and wars against all evil. It is a condition in which the spiritual and eternal are exalted above the earthly and the temporal, in which sin has been repented of, and obedience to God and God's law resolved upon-in which the spiritual eye is opened and the spiritual ear unstopped, and the soul is attuned |