The life of John Price Durbin .. . with an analysis of his homiletic skill and sacred oratory.

Front matter

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THE LIFE

OF

Preface

IN the May number of the Methodist Reviexo of 1887 there appeared an article designed to sketch the life and characterize the ministry of Dr. John P. Durbin. So deep was the interest thus awakened in the subject, that many and earnest requests came to the writer to give some larger account of this great man. The intelligence of the persons expressing this wish compelled the inquiry as to available material for a biography. Great weight was given to these private suggestions by the action of the Wilmington and the Philadelphia Conferences, which at their last session passed strong resolutions requesting the writer to prepare a life of Dr. Durbin. These two Conferences had formed but one body nearly all the time of Dr. Durbin's membership in the Philadelphia Conference, and felt a common interest in his character and services.

The New York East Conference, of which the writer is a member, passed a similar resolution. To such expression no one of sensibility could be indifferent.

But candor constrains the confession that the writer had long entertained the thought that " Homiletics and Sacred Oratory," taught with so much care and profit in text-books and by able professors, might be impressed by example of their most weighty and influential principles. The writer's knowledge of Dr. Durbin for forty years presented hira as an illustration of the greatest number of those principles that he had met in one minister. The consideration led him to commence the writing of this book. It will be seen, therefore, that vi PREFACE.

its object is twofold: 1. To narrate the life of Dr. Durbin ; and, 2. To analyze his powers as a preacher.

The writer makes his grateful acknowledgments to all who have in any way contributed material that served the ends of this volume. He is under preeminent obligations to Mrs. Augusta F. Whitaker, of Philadelphia, and to Alexander C. Durbin, Esq., of Montclair, N. J., the surviving children of Dr. Durbin. They have placed at his disposal the manuscripts in their possession. From an autobiographical fragment the most accurate and comprehensive information concerning Dr. Durbin's early labors has been furnished.

The author cannot in adequate terms express his indebtedness to remaining members of the family of Christopher Smith, Esq., of Cincinnati. From and through his son-in-law, Edward Sargent, Esq., new sources of knowledge have been opened to the writer.

Cordial thanks are rendered Judge John Chambers, of Eaton, Ohio, for the minutes of a quarterly conference kept by young Durbin. A like expression is due the Rev. J. O. Roberts for his account of the early efforts of Durbin; and to a lady friend in Philadelphia who has permitted the writer use of memoranda of great value. Thanks are also due the Rev. G. W. Lybrand, of the Philadelphia Conference, for original matter as well as for numerous references; and to the Rev. G. D. Carrow, D.D., for material that was sought with care.

The writer cannot express "his obligations to those who have furnished letters concerning Dr. Durbin. Among those is one who had the highest honor in the first graduating class of Dickinson College under Dr. Durbin, whom the Church now honors as its senior Bishop, Dr. Thomas Bowman.

Part I

Memoir of John P. Durbin, D.D., LL.D.

CHAPTEE I.

Ancestry — Youth — father's death — Mother's energy and character — "Wise care of his brothers — Learns cabinet-making — Troubled about a call to preach — Searching question of his grandfather — Sent as a preacher to Limestone Circuit, Ky., in a week after joining the Church — Counsel of Ben]. Lakin Page 3

Chapter II

1819. Received into Conference — G-reeuville Circuit — Little salary — Judge Chambers's fac simile of his Quarterly Conference Minutes — Close student — Rules of conduct — Account of jerks— Preaches on the deity of Christ. 1820. At Lavvrenceburg — Studies English Grammar by the aid of his colleague, James Collard — Learns of fruit of his first ministry — Circulates tracts — Means of a conversion. 1821. Hamilton Station— Studies Latin — Attends Miami University — Conversion of his host — His skill. 1822. Lawrenceville Station — David Young counsels him. 1823. Lebanon — Trouble in the Church — Depressed. 1824. In Cincinnati — Happy' home with Christopher Smith — Enters Cincinnati College — Encouraged by General William Henry Harrison, afterward President of the United States — Graduates with honor.. 17

Chapter III

Exalted character as student and preacher made in seven years — Professor in Augusta College — Marries — Agent for the college — His vigorous efforts — Resigns his chair — Elected Professor of Natural Science in the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn 42 v ill CONTENTS.

Chapter XX

Eloquence a worthy study — What it is — The efforts others make for its attainment — Not less valuable to a minister — That few attain high excellence is no reason for its neglect — Wesley's encouragement — Durbin's example — Bascom and Durbin compared — Resemblances and contrasts 326

Chapter XXI

His death — Relations — Family — Friends — Conference — His person — Intercourse — In Conference — Christian character — Common sense — Uncommon mental power — A consecrated life — Contrast between the labors of the Christian minister and an arch infidel — His life a moral folio for the study of young ministers. , , , ,347

Introduction

BIOGRAPHICAL art is as rare as genius. Except to the stupid most biographies are stupid — mere arid recitations of matters of no interest whatever. A sufficient reason for the dullness, in a great majority of cases is no doubt that there was no reason why the life should be written. It is astonishing how few lives, even of conspicuous men in high positions— statesmen, men eminent in the professions, or who have won distinction in literature or art, or in any other way — have in them any thing deserving of commemoration after they have passed away from the earth. Immediate relatives and partial friends, unwilling to have them forgotten, seek to prevent it by publishing a biography which perhaps they read or glance through, but which no one else finds interesting unless it should be some one, or some classes, who, unacquainted with more profitable reading, derive some entertainment and possibly some profit from the recital. Where there are few books, any thing — an old almanac — is better than nothing. After all there is scarcely a poor excuse for inflicting a biography on the present age of even a more than ordinary person in his peculiar line ; if he be less than really extraordinary, or unless there be that in his character and achievements and the incidents of his life which is suggestive and inspiring, it is better that he be permitted to go quietly to rest. The age is too busy and full for commonplace. Many a man who has shone with noticeable brilliancy in the xii INTRODUCTION.

pulpit, at the bar, in the senate, and who not only won but deserved admiration, even wide fame, will not bear the strain of a biography. The attempt to dress him up for such a show is little short of abuse. He ought to live in traditions, in the glamour of affectionate memories, in the innocent exaggerations which simply rank him with sufficient indefiniteness as among the great men of the generation of giants who lived in the age just gone. The growing fables will be greatly more just to his memory than any narrative can be. The imagination will do better by him than the facts. We protest, in the interest of a class of worthy men who have well served their time and deserve to be well thought of and affectionately remembered, against their being paraded and dwarfed in the pages of dull biography.

There are occasional men who, for one reason or another, or even for many sufficient reasons, deserve to be handed down to posterity in the embalmment of a book ; not necessarily greater than other men or the very greatest of all, but for some unique qualities, or possibly some accidental environments, or some inexplicable magnetism, or some triumph over peculiar and great difficulties, or some marvelous influences which emanated from them, or the conspicuous part which they played in their generation, or some incident or incidents of their history which are suggestive and helpful, especially to the young, or for other reasons.

It is a happy conjuncture when such a man finds a Boswell to enshrine him or a biographer worthy his subject ; and it is not always to be deplored when, as in the case of the great essayist, the affections of the biographist render him sensitive to the finest traits of the subject, or even if the reflected image, tinted by overfondness, should possibly flatter the original. The

INTRODUCTION. xili

imagination may safely play a part. A photograph or portrait in any style ought to be characteristically realistic rather than ideal ; but it ought not to be complained of when it gives the best expression, or even though it should in a degree, not grossly exaggerate, but mildly drape the form.

American Methodism rank among all her gifted and eminent sons, in any work of official distinction or ministerial service has never had one, if we except her first Bishop, and he only by the accidents of his position, who more richly deserved a classic niche in her temple of fame, or who has furnished a finer subject for the pen of genius than John P. Durbin. If there have been greater or more loyal sons we do not know of them. If any have excelled him we are not able to name them. He came on the stage in the heroic days of the nation and of the Church, and for fifty years and more, without a flaw or failure, stood in the public gaze only to be honored by those whose respect is discriminated praise, and by whom to be esteemed great is proof of real greatness. He was not simply the pride of his own Church, but equally of all those of other Churches, whether in pulpit or pew, and of the cultured of no Church as well, who were capable of appreciating sacred eloquence or admiring the charm of noble and magnetic manhood. Modest as a child in mien and spirit in the common intercourse of life, he was, when at the post of duty and roused with the mighty themes of his great commission, impassioned, fervid, irresistible as the electric flash or the great forces of nature when stirred to their wildest fury ; but whether in the cloister or amid the amenities of social life, or in the pulpit careering on the storm of matchless eloquence, alike in all places he won and swayed all hearts. No orator ever had moi-e complete mastery of his audixiv INTRODUCTION.

ences ; but it was always as the ambassador of the great King that he delivered his messages and reached his loftiest climaxes. He was never forgetful of his great commission, and never compromised the dignity and glory of his adored Master.

The Church and all the admiring friends of the great Durbin have reason to congratulate themselves in his biographer. Dr. Roche brought to his chosen task the indispensable conditions of success : deep personal affection ; long and intimate acquaintance ; special opportunities for the observation and study of his subject ; a discriminating understanding and appreciation of sacred eloquence ; dramatic skill of arrangement ; to which must be added spiritual sympathy. Throughout he is on fire with his theme ; never wearies of it ; never grows dull or vapid. He lives it over, from the boy on the Kentucky " blue-grass " farm, through all the windings of a grand and beautiful career, even to its culmination. There is nothing wanting, nothing omitted to mar the charm of the mind picture. He makes it live as he tells the story.

The rare charm of the volume, the highest stroke of biographical skill and genius, is that it is full of Durbin himself. From the first he is present with you ; you see him, hear the tone of his voice, feel the charm of his sympathy ; he is talking with you ; drawing you to him ; you are with him on the circuit ; at the homes among the people where he stopped ; reading the books he read ; thinking his thoughts. Further on, after boyhood has widened into manhood, and early promise has grown into fruition, and study has ripened into scholarship and position, you are sitting before him in the college chapel feeling the spell of his prayers, his loving, reproving, and persuasive counsels, in the recitation-room, thrilled by his inspirations and lifted by

INTRODUCTION. xv

his instructions : anon you are with him in the senate house, where his sermons and prayers hold the mighty men of the nation spell-bound ; and yet, over and over again you are hearing those wonderful sermons which, in great city pulpits and from the rude stands of the camp-ground, swayed the multitude as the tempest bends and lashes the forests.

There is so much reproduction from memory gathered from different sources, and so much from his own pen, that you seem to be listening again to the matchless orator and hearing the very tones of his voice, and find yourself crouching under those amazing gestures of his which no one who beheld can ever forget. That flash, rather shall I say glare, of his eye startles you as it did when you sat before him, that transfigured countenance, that upturned face, that wand of the uplifted hand, together with the words that made him the most magic of preachers, come to you over and over again as you read the interesting pages.

I must not detain you. Dr. Roche has nobly done his noble task. If I mistake not the book will not only be read with thrilling interest by multitudes of the present generation who knew and admired the great Doctor, not indeed in the glory of his prime, but in the toned autumn of his declining age ; but it will live on as a classic of the now rapidly-vanishing mythic age of our church life ; the age amid whose shadowy outlines we discern with sufficient indistinctness to magnify their forms the heroic men who laid its foundations. " Distance lends enchantment to the view ; " but there were great men in those times. None among them all, in the best respects, excelled the hero of this story.

The young men in the ministry of the present generation, who come upon the stage with such improved equipment, entering as they do into the labors of these xvi INTRODUCTION.

honored fathers will not permit their memories to perish or their laurels to fade ; but coming again and again to the study of their struggles and story of their successes will strive to emulate them in spirit and power. They will continue forever to be the great legion in our traditions and in our affections.

The Church will not grow weary of the story of the past or of the men who made it illustrious. We commend Dr. Roche's book with unqualified indorsement. Let it be read by our children in the thousand homes of our Methodism in city and country. It will not fail to inspire them to a noble life as well as entertain them with the fascination of a romance. Let it find a place in every Sunday-school library for the more advanced youth it will inspire them with love for their Church.

There are hints and rules as to the use of time and habits of study and methods of preparing sermons which cannot fail to be educating in a high degree to young ministers. The book abounds with allusions to other men in all the professions, but especially the most celebrated preachers of all Churches who were the contemporaries of the subject of the memoir, so that a most valuable light is thrown upon the age itself. There is scarcely a celebrity that has not a discriminative and appreciative analysis of his peculiar powers. It is really, in the closing chapters, a treatise on sacred eloquence as well as an historical resume of the men and their peculiar styles of thought and speech who in the forum and the pulpit impressed the generation just gone — as Webster, Clay, Calhoun, among statesmen ; Bascom, Olin, Maffit, among pulpiteers ; as well as the great orators of all countries and all times. The book is thus rendered rich in a remarkable degree.

I cannot close this brief Introduction without personal mention of the distinguished subject of this ex-

INTRODUCTION. xvii

ceedingly interesting sketch. I feel under personal obligation to the author for doing that, and doing it so admirably well, which I had almost despaired of seeing done at all. It seemed that the man who most of all deserved a memoir was not to find a biographer. It must have been an inspiration that led Dr. Roche to undertake the work. Perhaps no other living man could have done it so well.

My recollection of the great Doctor dates back nearly fifty years, just at the time when he was in the zenith of his fame. He had just passed out of his youth into the full strength of his mature manhood. It was when Bascom and Hamline were at the height of their power. Simpson was just in the dawn of his rapidly-rising popularity. I think it is safe to say that Methodism has never since had four comparable names, and probably never will again. Circumstances have greatly to do, certainly, with the quality of men s fame ; possibly with the quality of men themselves.

The country was new The age was uncritical. The pulpit was the great throne of power. The pen and printed page were less in use. The people were eager to hear. Impassioned speech thrilled and swayed the vast expectant assemblies who rushed for miles to hear the famous orator. There was eloquence in the air. All the circumstances conspired to kindle enthusiasm. It was inevitable that, standing in the focus of such forces, the speaker should be at his best. The effect was inchoate before he began. Hungry of combustion, the assembly took fire at the first spark. On the eager flame, the orator himself more impassioned, rose and soared to the sublimest heights of inspired eloquence. The effect was often magical. It is impossible for this generation to conceive of it. The waves of feeling that rushed over the assembly were as visible as the x V iii INTR OB UCTION.

effect of the storm on ocean or forest, Hundreds would rise to their feet under unconscious impulse, lean forward, press toward the speaker, weeping, sobbing, or shouting, under the thrilling appeal. Many times numbers fell like the slain in battle. Under Durbin and Bascom I have repeatedly witnessed all these effects myself. It would not accord with truth to say that there are not as great men now living ; but the times make it impossible that any should produce such visible signs of emotion as attended those mighty and glorious men. I must stay my pen. Read the book, and you will read it again, and will thank Dr. Roche that he has set in order his admirable words commemorative of the great life whose spell still lingers with us.

R. S. F.

PART I.

OF JOHN P, DURBIN, D.D., LI.D.

MEMOIR OF JOHN P. DURBIN, D.D, LL.D.

CHAPTER I. Ancestry — Youth— Early Ministry

HUMAN greatness commands the savage and the sage. It inspires the genius of the poet and is the chosen theme for eloquence. History records its results and wisdom avails itself of its benefits. In exalted reputations and influence men are "not born to die." Their lives do honor to our nature and their history is the heritage of the race. When, therefore, one has sublimely served his generation by the will of God, duty may demand that we gather up the facts that made him illustrious, and thus impress lessons of value upon those who survive. The Bible immortalizes, by name and deed, the great and good, and teaches that no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. Tamerlane was accustomed to read of his progenitors, not for boasting, but to improve his virtues. The noble acts of our predecessors may lure us from paths of indolence and awaken a just ambition to imbibe their spirit and follow in their steps. Worth begets worth. As from the ashes of the phenix others rise, from great men others are produced.

Few men in any Church have ever occupied and filled with efficiency and honor so many important positions as Dr. Durbin. We may, then, be allowed to say, "As some entranced limner seizes the setting of the golden sun to sketch the landscape when lighted up with rays still glowing, though fast fading away— as filial reverence seeks the artist's skill to portray a parent's face while expressions of the past yet play amid the wrinkles of age; or as the Nestor of some old philosophy encircles it with the last halo of enthusiasm ere yet new theories are called to occupy the uppermost seats," so would the writer, were it in his power, present the features of a character that remains and perpetuate the memories that linger to enshrine the man who, while living, achieved so much for the cause of Christ, and who, though dead, may be to the ministry so grand an illustration of what the conscientious application of all our powers to our appropriate work will enable us to accomplish.

In a record prepared by himself John Price Durbin says: " I was born October 10, 1800, in Bourbon County, Ky., three miles from Paris. My paternal grandfather was from Havre-de-Grace, Md. My maternal grandfather was from Georgia. Both their families settled in Kentucky among the first who immigrated thither. They were of industrious, plain habits, and hence made a comfortable living approaching wealth. My maternal grandfather and family were among the first Methodists in Kentucky, and continue to this day (January 28, 1830).

" My father, Hozier Durbin, married my mother, Elizabeth Nunn, A. D. 1799. I was their eldest child. There were five sons of us, all living at the death of my father. . . . My father was a generous and hio-hly honorable man, professing no religion. His fortunes were ruined by the faithlessness of friends whom he trusted. . . . He died suddenly in March, 1813 and left us to the protection of my mother and the clemency of the world. Fortunately, she was a woman of extraordinary constitution, though small and delicate in appearance, and has rarely been equaled in point of industry, perseverance, economy, and the government of her family. In the last particular she was considered by some as too severe. But she had sons to rule and none to help her. To her we are indebted for whatever we have of morals, industry, or a sense of honor and propriety. I can never think of her but with gratitude and wonder. Assisted in some degree by her father, she supported us by her own industry until we were old enough to be put to trades. She spun and wove the material for our clothes, and, when woven, made them with her own hands. We were raised before the simplicity of the West yielded- to the extravagance of the present day."

In the History of Methodism in Kentucky, by Rev. A. II. Redford, D.D., Vol. I, p. 316, Dr. Durbin says, in a letter of March 5, 1868, "My mother was married to Mr. Theobold, of Grant County, Ky. A son and daughter were the fruit of that marriage. The son is dead, but the daughter, now Mrs. Sayres, of Grant Count}', is still living, and is the mother of a large family of children."

Again, Dr. Redford says:

"Among the distinguished women of the Methodist Church in Kentucky no one presented a brighter Christian example than Mrs. Durbin. Devoted to the Church of her choice, as well as to the common cause of Christianity, she contributed the influence of a holy life and a liberal hand to promote the great ends of religion. Endowed Avith an intellect of superior cast, with a heart sanctified by grace, and with an inflexible purpose to accomplish the highest aims and ends of life, whether by the bedside of affliction or in her own family circle, or pouring out the devotions of her heart around the altars of the Church, she seems every-where an angel of mercy. Through many years her house was consecrated

6 JOHN P. DURBiy.

to God, and beneath her hospitable roof the faithful minister of Christ found a welcome and a place of rest."

In a brief biography written by her pastor soon after her death, he says: " Many there are who bless God that she ever lived. " Her place in the Church and family circle cannot be easily filled. In her death a pillar of Christianity has been broken and a moral guiding light extinguished. Her children and society have sustained a loss that time cannot repair. She in an eminent degree trained up her children in ' the way they should go,' and had the high satisfaction of seeing them all soundly converted and exemplary members of the Church, while two of them became eloquent ministers of the Gospel of Christ." For several years she suffered from severe affliction, yet her last attack, a disease of the throat, was brief. After a i'ew days' illness calmly and easily she passed away.

In the record kept by Dr. Durbin, he says:

" As I advanced to manhood my mother, of course, became more infirm, and, as if by common consent, the care of the younger brothers devolved on me. As it was very evident to me that they could not expect to rank in point of inherited fortunes with their near relations I determined it was best to remove them from their native State and place them among strangers. I had two reasons for this:

" 1. For fear they might be moved by some disagreeable feeling by seeing their friends growing up in prospect of better fortunes, and to which they might, and justly too, feel they had a partial claim, which I foresaw never could be realized.

"2. Because I had seen enough of the world to know that when one's fortune depended on his own exertion he is more successful and better sustained amonostrangers than among friends or relations. For if among his relations he will naturally look to them for some support, and if he does not receive it he feels grieved and injured. Moreover, when among strangers he looks for no indulgence or favors other than such as his virtues, industry, and success may authorize him to expect. He feels himself responsible to the community and dependent on himself in respect to his conduct and fortunes, and these things awaken in the heart feelings and resolutions and energies of such elevation and character as cannot be felt or formed by the person who grows up in prospect of ease and protection in the bosom of an indulgent family. From these circumstances I thought it best to remove my brothers from the house of their parents and scenes of their childhood that they might, as I have done, and expect always to do, try their fortunes among strangers, and make and keep friends only by their virtues and merits. Nor have I been disappointed in them yet, and feel pretty well assured that even my best wishes will be realized in regard to them.

"The same course should be pursued in reference to all youth, no matter what their prospects are. Place them in circumstances which require all their energies and make them depend on themselves. It is the only possible way to make them active, efficient, and industrious citizens, and to prevent them from being debased and useless drones, an expense to their families, and a loss to the community. The history of the brightest gems of our free and happy country will attest what I have here written."

This is rare reasoning for one of his age. The political economist who, in the maturity of his intellect and the most careful consideration of th:>t which pertains to a State or a nation, reasons out safer conclusions than J. P. Durbin reached in relation to the best temporal interests of his brothers and young men in general shows a wisdom that makes him worthy of his exalted study.

In 1868 Dr. Durbin wrote, " Myself and my brother William (third son) are the only ones living." That brother still lives in the State of Indiana and is a devoted member of the Church. His youngest brother, Hozier J. Durbin, was a member of the Indiana Conference, and at the time of his death was agent of the American Bible Society. On August 11, 1851, while energetically prosecuting its interests, "he was killed in a storm by the limb of a tree falling on him." Before this he had been a member of the State Legislature in Indiana. He was a speaker of " persuasive eloquence " and a "powerful preacher."

The early life of J. P. Durbin was spent on a farm. "His education up to his fourteenth year was of the commonest kind of the frontier. When fourteen years old he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker in Paris, Ky., with whom he remained till he learned the trade."

He says, " About my eighteenth year I became permanently serious and was admitted a member of a class, mainly with a design, as I afterward learned, to procure a recommendation to the Quarterly Meeting Conference for license to preach. The license was granted on November 19, 1818, and signed by that truly good and great man, Alexander Cummings. . . On Tuesday following the grant of my license to preach I was sent by the presiding elder, Mr. Cummings, to Limestone Circuit, in the Kentucky Conference."