Herrick Johnson; an appreciative memoir

Front matter

Glass 3M — —

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Foreword

S this tribute to the memory of one so widely beloved goes out from the press, desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to those who have generously aided me in preparing it and to tender my thanks. Were it not for the remarkable work done by the first Mrs. Johnson in preserving in many scrapbooks items that helped to tell the story of her husband's large, full life, this memoir could not have been prepared at all. It was one of the many ways through which she expressed her devotion to him through the nearly fifty years of their singularly happy life. Nor should I fail to thank Mrs. Blinn, widow of the Rev. H. G. Blinn, formerly of Cambridge, N. Y., for opening up the treasures of her youth and giving me access to a delightful correspondence she had with Dr. Johnson in his early life. But for this great kindness the specially interesting features of his fine boyhood and young manhood could not have been brought to light. His sister, Mrs. Oscar Gray, of St. Louis, Mo., also furnished most interesting material for that period, for which I am indebted.

From Dr. E. C. Ray, D.D., for many years

FOREWORD

Secretary of the College Board of the Presbyterian Church, who knew Dr. Johnson most intimately; Mrs. Cyrus McCormick, and the Faculty of the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and from my publishers, I have received very marked encouragement in my imperfect effort to portray the impressive and inspiring personality of this noble friend and teacher of men. For it all I am both appreciative and thankful, as I am for the helpful sympathy of the present Mrs. Johnson, which I have expressed in my desire to dedicate this book to her. I only wish it were a better, a finer book — one not showing so plainly the effect of declining years. Yet whatever its merits, whatever its shortcomings, it is offered in tender tribute to the memory of the man I knew and loved so well.

Charles E. Robinson.

Pelham Manor, N. Y., August 27, 1914.

Contents

I Early Years and Memories . . 9

II Troy, N. Y., i860- 1863 — Pittsburgh,

III Philadelphia, 1868-1874 ... 48

II

TROY, N. Y., 1860-63— PITTSBURGH, PA., 1 863-67 — MARQUETTE, MICH., 1868

"Then I preached Christ, and when she heard the story —

(Oh! is such triumph possible to men?) Hardly, my King, had I beheld Thy glory, Hardly had known Thy excellence till then.

Oft when the Word is on me to deliver, Opens the Heaven and the Lord is there, Desert or throng, the city or the river, Melt in a lucid paradise of air."

HE First Presbyterian Church of Troy, to which Herrick Johnson was called to be assistant pastor, was, without doubt, at that time not only the foremost Presbyterian church in the city, but also a notable church in northern and eastern New York State. Dr. Beman was a Southern man, of very pronounced Northern principles, invincibly opposed to slavery, and of clearly defined New-School theological views. He was a man who had the courage of his convictions, and great ability in presenting them. He held a free lance on Thanksgiving Day, and regularly aroused such antagonism in those who did not agree with his political views that several of them would leave the church in

white heat, vowing that they would never enter it again. But he was so much of a man, so tender in his preaching on the love of God, endowed with such power in argument., so irresistible in persuasion, so fascinating, that those very men who would leave the church on Thanksgiving Day were always drawn back again. He educated men and women to be thinkers, and his congregation were thoroughly capable of digesting solid food in preaching, and both wanted and welcomed it.

Herrick Johnson was unusually mature at the time of his graduation from the theological seminary. He stood every inch a man, at once challenging the attention of his hearers. He was not New School in his theology. He would have been a stern Calvinist had it not been for his heart, and he, like Dr. Beman. had great courage and boldness in preaching the truth. His voice was like a great organ with many stops, from the vox humana to the open diapason. He had perfect control of it. He had, even then, a remarkable gift in prayer. There was a reverent, tender, exquisitely solemn quality without any " solemn tone " to his voice that helped those whom he led in prayer to realize that they were in the very presence of God Himself. Such confession of sin, such penitence, such love, such adoration the people felt could be voiced only by one who himself was really praying. Those of his hearers whom he might have antagonized by the force of his logic in pressing his Calvinistic views would find their hearts melted and tender under the influence of his closing prayer. His Troy people appreciated his ability in the pulpit, and were responsive to his preaching.

Before his first year was over, the country was in the awful throes of civil war, and he was a leader in loyalty, and in opposition to slavery. He preached a very strong sermon on " The Ground of Submission to Civil Authority." In the course of his argument he said : " Rather than have this rebellion a success may a half a million loyal hearts give their life blood — give it freely and give it all. Rather than have it a success may every minister in the land leave the peaceful walks in which he is now pursuing his holy calling, and toughen the sinews, harden the muscles, and inure himself to hardships so as to do and dare and die like other men, on the battlefield. Rather than have it a success, I would gladly lay this body gashed and mangled in the enemies' trenches, and wish I had a thousand more to lay beside it." He closed his sermon with these words : " This rebellion will be worth all its suppression will cost, if it clears the atmosphere of all doubt as to the power and authority of government, restores our respect for rulers, by giving them their high position as ordained by Heaven, and leads us to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake — ' to fear God and honor the king.' "

It is generally acknowledged that churches seeking for pastors feel a little more liberty in approaching an assistant pastor than one who has been a long time settled in his parish. It is natural that they should recognize an impermanency in such relations, and that the man occupying such a position should desire the larger liberty gained in the transfer to the full charge of a parish. It was not possible for Herrick Johnson to be let alone. He had, during his short ministry, already made too broad a mark, and taken too high a stand, to be lost sight of. Finally a very prominent church in the great city of Pittsburgh (the Third Presbyterian), which had lost its able pastor, Dr. Henry Kendall, by his transference to the secretaryship in the Board of Home Missions — a position which he filled until his death with great distinction and signal devotion to the Church and its Master — had its attention called to Herrick Johnson, who had been only two and a half years out of seminary, but who had made full proof of his ministry. He was called in December, 1862, and on January 11, 1863, was installed pastor. It was a very inviting and important field for so young a man, but he showed no immaturity. Through God's blessing he stood equal to the position.

" Great doors and effectual " were opened to him at once. The church was made up of some of the finest men and women of the city, and large numbers of young men rallied around the young pastor, attracted not only by his youth, but by his marked ability, his genial spirit, and his great-heartedness. He had singularly marked qualities to lead young men — strength, enthusiasm, a lofty purpose, a deep Christian experience, and a strong love for his fellows. The young men leaped to his standard like the soldiers to the white-plumed Henry of Navarre. Institutions of learning summoned him to address them at their commencements, and a paper called the Risks of Thinking, which he delivered before the Literary Societies of Jefferson College during the first year of his pastorate in Pittsburgh, awakened especial attention. His own college (Hamilton) called him the same season to their commencement to address the graduating class.

But in October of that year, the fine old building of the Third Church was burned, and all the cares incident to such a great loss were suddenly heaped upon the young pastor. It was an emergency to which he proved himself equal, and the members of his great church realized that they had a man at their head. They determined not to re-roof the old walls of the building, but to build a new and beautiful church edifice. They did not, however, make this misfortune an excuse for not contributing to the great causes to which their church was committed. Herrick urged them not to let up on their beneficences. As a result they subscribed that very season over two thousand dollars to help endow the Board of Publication, and when the time came for their annual contribution to Home Missions, they gave over four thousand dollars ! At the same time Pittsburgh was the very centre of the great patriotic United States Christian Commission, which brought vast numbers of Christians of all denominations together to minister to the bodies and souls of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The New York Evangelist of May, '64, stated that one of the largest meetings ever held in Pittsburgh was one held in Dr. Patton's church. It was the second of a series of meetings on behalf of the United States Christian Commission in connection with the great national subscription of one million dollars. The Rev. Herrick Johnson presided.

He had been now only four years out of the theological seminary. He was still a young man, except in the strong, capable way he met his public duties, which placed him in the forefront of the forceful citizens of the great city. The work of the Christian Commission in ministering to the sick and wounded soldiers appealed to him very strongly and was specially congenial to his great patriotism and large-hearted Christian philanthropy. He did not spare himself. Aside from the large demands of his public work, he daily worked in the wards of the hospitals.

He wrote letters for the wounded boys to their friends at home; he pointed them to Jesus, he prayed with the dying. Possibly it was this that brought on a severe attack of diphtheria, which laid him aside for several months, and his devoted people, in the midst of their sacrifice for the country and the building of their new church, and despite the fact that they had given him two thousand dollars to help him and Mrs. Johnson to go into housekeeping, gave him three thousand dollars more to take him to Europe and to recuperate from his severe illness. Mrs. Johnson accompanied her husband, and they returned October 10, 1865, and at once plunged into the great work of a pastorate in a city such as Pittsburgh was in those strenuous times. In response to an invitation given to him about this time to address the Pittsburgh Temperance League, Herrick so treated the subject that a local newspaper stated that he " surpassed his usual powerful style of oratory, and delivered one of the most eloquent and impressive lectures we have ever had the pleasure of hearing." It was while preparing this lecture, as he sat at his desk with a cigar in his mouth, that he felt for the first time (as he told me afterwards) the force of the argument which we had often had with him against his smoking. " If there is any force in the point which I have just made in favor of temperance, it applies to this cigar which I am smoking." He arose from his chair and flung the cigar into the fire, and never smoked again. Such an action was characteristic of the man.

It will be impossible to tell the full story of his " labors oft " in his Pittsburgh parish. In Synod and in General Assembly also he distinguished himself, where it was said of him that " more like an ideal leader of the Church of the West, is the pastor of the Third Church, Pittsburgh, who, with his Elder Judge Williams, forms one of the strongest delegations sent from any Presbytery/' But we must refer here to a signal tribute to the estimation in which he was held by his appointment to address the closing gathering of the United States Christian Commission held in the Hall of the House of Representatives in Washington, February n, 1866. " The Assembly was composed of the distinguished and honored of the land, representing perhaps more fully and truly the powers which wield our great nation than any similar assembly ever convened in our country's history. The Hall was draped in tender reference to the memory of the beloved dead." We boys of Hamilton College and Auburn Seminary were very proud of our representative and fellow student standing there that day, a peer with all those great men, delivering his eloquent, thrilling address. A further honor awaited him, for after an address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of the Western Reserve College, June 25, m HERRICK JOHNSON

1867, the trustees conferred on him the title of Doctor of Divinity.

Soon after that it became evident that the health of Mrs. Johnson was not equal to the peculiarly trying climate of Pittsburgh. Her physicians declared that to save her life she must leave the city at once. It was a sore trial all around. The pastor and church had been bound together by great soul-stirring times in the progress of the war. A great revival had been granted them ; large numbers had united with the church, and a great army of young men had rallied around him. The farewell meeting of the church on Sabbath morning and the address to the young men in the evening marked how high the tide of deep feeling and sorrow had risen. During the five years of his ministry his church had made an advance of nearly three hundred and fifty per cent, on its various causes of Christian benevolence and an advance of over five hundred per cent, on its voluntary contributions to other causes, and that while engaged in building a costly church edifice. Those two farewell services, especially the one in the evening, when the great congregation was composed almost entirely of young men, were remembered for long years afterwards and are still tenderly recalled by those of the number now living. They were well-nigh heart-rending. Those who have never seen Dr. Johnson, save in the vehemence of public debate in Church Courts on some

TiiOY— PITTSBURGH— MARQUETTE 43 great question, can have little idea of the tenderness of his heart, and the way he drew men to him — especially young men — as with hoops of steel.

There are middle-aged men, pastors of important churches, professors of theological seminaries, and men at the head of great business enterprises, who were then parishioners of Dr. Herrick Johnson. And these men when they heard of his lamented death recalled away from 1867 the precious memories of his ministry among them with warm and tender feeling, particularly that notable farewell service, which almost broke their hearts. The Pittsburgh press expressed, on every side, the universal sorrow over his going. " An event which is regarded by Christians of every name as a misfortune to the city." The people of the Third Church offered Dr. Johnson a long leave of absence, but in the uncertain state of Mrs. Johnson's health it was not clear that it would ever be safe or desirable to bring her back to the smoky atmosphere. So, and being unwilling to keep them in a state of suspense, he pressed his resignation, which was, finally, but sorrowfully accepted. The correspondent of the New York Evangelist said : " None who have heard him need be told of his power as an orator, and in regard to his constancy in labor we need only say that during the revival in this city last winter he preached for several months daily with almost no help from any one. His church ranks second in the New School body, in point of liberality, yielding only to that of Dr. Adams of New York City."

It was decided that Dr. and Mrs. Johnson should go to Marquette, on Lake Superior, for the winter, and a small church being at that time without a pastor, he was invited to supply the pulpit. The change from the smoky atmosphere of Pittsburgh to the absolutely pure, clear, and bracing air of Lake Superior was most beneficial to both the preacher and his wife. Undoubtedly it was the principal cause of prolonging Mrs. Johnson's most valuable life for the many years in which they were subsequently enabled to live together. To Dr. Johnson it was a great tonic also. He wrote most enthusiastically of it. " Come up here and snuff this bracing air," he wrote. " It is more Superior than the Lake — grammar to the contrary notwithstanding. I have been out in it, this morning, taking a lung-bath. Whew ! Two or three good draughts of it fairly lift one off the earth, making his feet like hinds' feet. It gives lightness and buoyancy to the frame, just as a joy does to the spirit. To a denizen of sooty Pittsburgh, who has been a dweller there in the midst of the cloud, and who has just come out of its blackness of darkness, this new atmosphere is especially an exhilaration and he goes rollicking in it with infinite zest." Later on he wrote of the deepening of religious interest there to his great joy. He loved nothing so much as a genuine spiritual awakening. He flung himself into this movement with the greatest ardor. " Now," he writes, " religion is the topic of conversation everywhere. On the streets, across the counters, and in the workshops and in the drinking saloons words are exchanged about the way to be saved. Even as at Ephesus, ' the Name of the Lord is magnified,' and mightily grows the word of God and prevails. Public hops go begging for patronage. The Presbyterian Church is crowded every night. The Baptists and the Methodists are equal sharers in the great blessing. Young men, — and the village swarms with them, — are standing up for Jesus. Strong men are bowed down and led of God like little children. Mad men who have fought against God and found out their shame, are sitting at the feet of Jesus., clothed and in their right mind. Professional and business men have sought and found the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a solemn awe in our public assemblies. In the hushed stillness, it seems as if blinded sinners have caught the sound of the footfall of Jesus of Nazareth passing by, and have cried out to Him, and He has stood still and bidden them come to him, and they have received their sight."

He wrote to me also of the joy that filled his soul. He would go down on the shore of the Lake for solitude and prayer and praise. He walked that shore in a sort of ecstasy, going over in his mind the line of his thought for the evening service and swinging his arms and shouting his praise. It was only a short time before this that the now most familiar hymn, " He leadeth me, O blessed thought/' had appeared, and during the great revival of 1857 it was taken up and sung throughout the whole land. Dr. Johnson greatly loved it. He would go up and down the Lake shores, with only the great waters listening, and sing it at the top of his voice. Those were days of rapture, and he gave to his people at night the blessing that filled his soul those days by the great waters. Later on (in March) he wrote : " The religious interest commenced just prior to the Week of Prayer and has been sustained with great power ever since. Yesterday we celebrated the Sacrament of the Supper, and seventy-eight stood before the altar, to make public profession of their faith and dedicate themselves to God. It was a scene not often to be witnessed, and never to be forgotten."

Shortly after this Dr. Johnson received a unanimous call from the First Church of Philadelphia, for so many years the scene of the honored and fruitful ministry of the Rev. Albert Barnes. Mr. Barnes was himself deeply interested in Dr. Johnson's accepting the call, which we shall consider in a later chapter. But while waiting at Marquette through the beautiful summer weather, a great fire, for so small a city, consumed among many other treasures all Dr. Johnson's sermons, all his MSS. of college and theological seminary notes, all his prize essays in college — in fine, everything. Thus he stood facing the responsibilities of a new parish in a great city, with none of the material which had accumulated in his active ministry to help him along. Here, too, he showed his virile manhood. He was not a whiner. He faced it as a call from God. In addressing a meeting of members of the Y.M.C.A. at Marquette, who had lost their building, he most urgently called upon them to meet their misfortunes bravely, and be prepared to make sacrifices, and to put up an edifice greatly in advance of the old one. He began his new work as successor of the Rev. Albert Barnes in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, June, 1868.

Ill

"Whose high endeavors are an inward light That makes the path before him always bright?

More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure As tempted more, more able to endure As more exposed to suffering and distress, Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

But who if he be called upon to face

Some awful moment, to which Heaven has joined

Great issues, good or bad, for human kind,

Is happy as a lover, and attired

With sudden brightness, like a man inspired;

And through the heat of conflict, keeps the law

In calmness made and sees what he foresaw;

Or if an unexpected call succeed,

Come when it will, is equal to the need."

— Wordsworth.

IT will help us to see Herrick Johnson more clearly if we note him on the threshold of his larger field, particularly as an active promoter of the work of the Presbyterian Church as a great whole, in the union between the O. S. and the N. S. Churches, which took place in 1869. Many things had contributed to his very decided growth. His work among the sick and wounded soldiers in the Christian Com- 48 mission Hospitals, his intense patriotism, his deep anxiety over the serious illness of his beloved wife, his sorrowful experience in tearing himself away from the very dear church at Pittsburgh on account of her health ; his great enjoyment of the air and scenery of Lake Superior ; his rich experience of the unique revival in the little church at Marquette ; the loss of all his MSS. by lire, which brought him to the heroic acceptance of a most trying providence just as he was about to take up a new work in the great city of Philadelphia., were all wrought into the very fibre of his manhood, and helped to make him a more sympathetic man, a broader man, a man of clearer vision, a more consecrated man. and a man of larger liberty, as well as to specially fit him for a wider sphere of usefulness in the great Lmited Presbyterian Church.

This was most noticeable in the active debates in the Synod and in the General Assembly, by his hearty and enthusiastic advocacy of the Union of the two Assemblies — the O. S. and the N. S. He faced the opposition to it very vigorously. He vehemently insisted that there must be no surrender of such liberty in interpreting the standards as the New School Presbyterian Church had enjoyed. One of the religious papers, in reference to the debate on the Basis of Union in the Xew School Assembly, stated that " Dr. Johnson's earnest plea for liberty came with all the more force because of his assent to the imputation of being Old School in Theology. Most fervently did our hearts go with him when he exclaimed : " Perish the union if such freedom is sacrificed to obtain it." In the same address he said, " There are differences between the Old School and the New School. They do really exist. And they ought to be recognized and acknowledged. To my mind they are not differences that justify the continued separation of the two great branches of the Presbyterian Church. I confidently believe that they are consistent with a hearty and harmonious union. Perhaps they could not be better expressed than in the words so happily used by Dr. Adams yesterday, in his address to the other Assembly as the delegate from this body. ' You said that you are the conservators of orthodoxy — we the conservators of liberty.' Now in the proposed Reunion on the Basis as presented, is it expected that the Old School are to yield their conservation of orthodoxy ? No ! Are we to yield our conservation of liberty ? No ! Perish the union rather than that. God forbid the union forever rather than that.

" A liberty within the limits of sound Calvinism, a liberty always enjoyed in the body, and exercised to-day fully as it was twenty years ago, it is neither our wish nor our purpose to surrender. Let it be distinctly understood. There should be no misapprehension in regard to the matter.

Let it go forth to the other Branch of the Church and to the world. Xot a dozen votes in this Assembly, not a half-dozen Presbyteries in our whole connection would favor this Basis of Reunion, if its acceptance and adoption were thought to involve the giving up of this liberty. Such liberty, e.g., as recognizes and freely allows those views in theology that are held by Albert Barnes. Albert Barnes ! revered, honored, beloved, ripened now to a golden completeness, ready to go to his grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in, in its season, and ever presenting himself to my thoughts as of all men in the world, the guileless man. Our brethren take us as we are, we in like manner take them. Their orthodoxy is to put no clamps upon our hitherto enjoyed liberty. Our exercise of liberty is not to contaminate, nor pervert, nor in any way impair their orthodoxy. Liberty and orthodoxy meet together. Liberty and orthodoxy kiss each other. Henceforth they are to live in the same house, to sit at the same table, to worship at the same altars, to work in the same groves, to evangelize through the same organization. Henceforth they are to go hand in hand in mutual affection, fidelity, and trust. I thank God for it.*' " And let it be the fervent, earnest, constant prayer of all hearts that we go forth for our country's and the world's evangelization. One church, banded and bonded and welded together, holding the Cross, held by the Cross, irradiated by the glories of it, stirred by the inspirations of it, our hearts swelling with the memories of it, and the outreach of that anguished heart of love that broke on Calvary, when Jesus with outstretched arms embraced a dying world."

In the mean time while all this discussion was going on, and committees were meeting, Dr. Johnson was intensely interested in the development of his field in the First Church. It was a great historic church and had been distinguished, for the thirty-seven years previous to his coming, by the presence in the pastorate of the distinguished Rev. Albert Barnes, whose annotation of various parts of Scripture, called Barnes* Notes, had a very wide circulation, more than a million copies being sold before the last revised edition was issued in 1872. These gave the author great eminence, together with the fact that he was tried for heresy on account of certain passages in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans and acquitted. " He was leader of the New School Presbyterians when soon after his trial a definitive rupture occurred in the denomination." It was undoubtedly not only an interesting fact that his colleague years afterward, Dr. Johnson, was one of the foremost leaders to reunite these two bodies, but it was, as we know, a peculiar joy to him to serve Mr. Barnes and the United Church in this way. While it was a church of a great history, the poor health of Mr. Barnes and his failing eyesight and the great change in the character of the population immediately surrounding the church, had caused a number of problems, as to its future. It had become a " downtown church." But quite a large number of its members, devotedly attached to Mr. Barnes and to the church, either refused to move away from its surroundings, or in moving away, still retained their membership in the old church.