Edward Judson, interpreter of God

Preface

Personality, the richest gift of divine beneficence, cannot be described, it can only be felt. Could one who had felt the power of the personality of Edward Judson, and had seen the beauty of his character, do other than hesitate to tell the story of his life?

Attracted to New York by him, as a student working for six years under his direction at the Memorial Baptist Church, and for ten years associated with him in denominational undertakings, and having had the privilege of a close personal relationship, I have had somewhat exceptional opportunity to know his ideals, and to see something of his bitter struggles " to freeze his thoughts into metal." A world which is never too kindly to the ideal was none too responsive to the touch of this idealist ; and Edward Judson was an artist, and would give his life rather than cheapen his art.

One has said of him that, " chivalrous and saintly, too fine-grained for the slums, he hacked away at the giant city even with his tempered razor, confident that in time God would bring down the tree." This beautiful tribute to his art and to his faith falls short of appreciating the very practical character of his life and work. He must not be presented as an idealist only, but as a student of affairs, and as the founder of an institution whose influence has been far-reaching.

VI PREFACE

Doctor Judson's daughters have requested that his life be treated in its public relationships, rather than in its more intimate personal relations. I am indebted to them for the use of Doctor Judson's files, from which the material of the book has been largely drawn ; I am grateful also for the assistance of his faithful and long-time secretary, Dr. Frederick A. Vanderburgh, and for the kindly criticism of Dean Shailer Mathews, Dr. William M. Lawrence, and the Rev. C. Wallace Petty.

New York City, October, x 9 x6. CHARLES HATCH SEARS.

Introduction

The life of a great man is a public heritage. However much such a life may have been built into institutions, its individual qualities are too dynamic to be lost. Souls always possess value not embodied in their corporate influence. Jesus is more than the church, Bernard of Clairvaux speaks through other channels than his fraternity.

All this is true of Edward Judson. Those of us who knew him honored him for his share in adjusting the denomination and a church to new conditions, but we drew faith from himself as a friend. Who can ever forget his smile and the exquisite camaraderie which made friendship more than a recognition of his leadership. The buoyancy of his spirit lifted us even when he himself must have been struggling with discouragement. Often, I fear, we failed to let him see how much he meant to us, and assumed too easily that he knew the warmth of our affection. But we have the heritage of his choice companionship.

The denomination to which Doctor Judson belonged is under great obligation to him for many services, but none of these to my mind quite equals his share in the transformation of what might have become mere sectarianism into an enthusiasm for the kingdom of God. He brought to the church life an extraordinary combination of spiritual and social vision. He dared believe that evangelicalism could be beautiful and humanitarian without losing its trust in God. A gentleman unafraid in any situation, he gave to everything he undertook a touch

vii

VIU INTRODUCTION

of chivalry that was none the less human because it was born of an exquisite sense of beauty and divine love.

Mr. Sears' volume will help those of us who knew him to revive this personal influence, and it will serve to extend the range of those who may know him more intimately than could have been their fortune while he lived. With all its respect for the sanctities of private life, it brings its reader face to face with one who was a prince among friends as well as a leader in good works.

Shailer Mathews.

Contents

Page

I. Early Life i

II. Scholar, Teacher, and Educator 23

II

In the study of any noble outstanding life you can almost always discover in the background certain obscure personalities that have contributed largely to its splendor and efficiency; as a river owes the force of its current to secret springs nestling among the hills. — Edward Judson.

HOW many obscure personalities contributed to the efficiency of Edward Judson's life we may not know, but few lives have been touched by so many men and women of genius as was his. If to sit on the end of a log opposite Mark Hopkins was to touch influences like those of a university, what could daily fellowship with Ebenezer Dodge, in whose home Edward Judson was nurtured, have meant to the keenly sensitive youth? The year before Edward Judson was brought to Hamilton, Doctor Dodge became Professor of Evidences of Revealed Religion in Madison (now Colgate) University and of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation in the Theological Seminary. He did not become president, the office in which he wielded his great life influence, until 1868, the year that Edward Judson was elected to a regular professorship in the same institution. Certain of Doctor Dodge's characteristics found their counterpart in Edward Judson. " From youth to age he was a good linguist," said Dr. William N. Clarke in his memorial address on Ebenezer Dodge. " His taste for books amounted to a hunger, and his taste for beauty to a thirst. . . He had a keen appreciation in art; he was an eager student of painting, of architecture, of antiquities. . . This fine pure taste leavened his life. His c 23 whole bearing and influence illustrated the value of high tastes as an element in character. In spirit, as we all know, he was independent. Throughout his life he recognized and claimed that first right of intellectual manhood, the right of thinking for himself."

Edward Judson's aptness of expression may have been cultivated by Doctor Dodge, of whom Doctor Clarke said : " A certain Yankee shrewdness and native wit was added to all the rest, which often condensed his wise thought into a fine sententiousness. His accidental sayings were often terse and wise, like the Proverbs of Solomon." But above these characteristics Doctor Dodge was a man of sincere piety, and " Into all his thinking entered as a ruling element his reverence toward God and his spirituality of mind. He prayed, spoke, taught, lived, as a devout man, a child of God. . . The God of perfect goodness was a living reality in his own life. He was sure that this world was the world of God, and he never feared to trust it to his care and wisdom." Doctor Dodge was a towering personality. He knew how to impart his convictions to a growing youth. " His personality made his way and achieved his victories. He stood among us a man whose stature was the true symbol of his eminence, and the vigor of whose step pictured the force of his character." At the hand of such a master educator, Edward Judson received his informal training during his most plastic years.

Rev. Jonathan Bastow, a classmate, says :

When, on February I, 1856, I entered the preparatory department of Madison University, it numbered forty-eight, with several students of rare ability; among them was Edward Judson, then twelve years of age, much younger than any other member of the class. He was not with us in all of his studies, the intention being not to press him too much with study on account of his youthfulness.

Having seen the rare linguistic ability of his father and mother and that Doctor Dodge loved language study and excelled in it, we are not surprised that Edward too showed marked ability as a linguist. " I remember particularly his rare ability in the languages," says Mr. Bastow.

He was as familiar, apparently, with the rules of the English grammar as with his alphabet. I remember when he began the study of Latin and Greek, he recited with exceedingly great accuracy. His translations were always clear and accurate. I shall never forget his analysis of a brief paragraph in Latin, which required a longer time than usually given a student in a recitation, being done so perfectly that it called forth an applause from the class. He thoroughly mastered all of his lessons in every department, but I think he was perhaps a little more accurate and at ease in the languages than in anything else.

Though Doctor Dodge was a professor in Madison University, it seems altogether fitting that he should have matriculated Edward at the close of his freshman year at Brown University, especially as Edward's father had graduated from Brown in 1807, his brother Elnathan in 186 1, and his brother Adoniram in 1859.

Edward Judson's files have preserved the record of but one incident during his college course. That incident is illuminating. With others, he had incurred the displeasure of the faculty by signing a certain paper. As President Sears suspected that Edward was the leader in its circulation, he suspended him. He left Providence at once, and went to his aunt's at Plymouth, where he made his home during his college course. A classmate, in writing to him on January 9, 1864, makes this interesting comment on his refusal to sign some disavowal as demanded by the president :

This afternoon I spent at Professor Green's. Mrs. Green delivered your kind message to myself, expressed her gladness in hearing from you, and said also that she had much more respect for you, not signing the paper, than for those who signed that important document with a mental reservation. So said the professor.

His college chum, Miner R. Deming, interviewed the president in Edward's behalf, but without his knowledge.

The doctor said that they were all pleased at the stand you have taken intellectually, but think that you like best to cut up and have a good time. I told him I was sorry they had such a poor appreciation of your character. I defended you as warmly and candidly as I knew how.

Edward Judson's standing in the student body is reflected by this observation of his friend : " The feeling through college is quite strong in favor of you. They talk of getting up a petition in your behalf in the senior class and also in ours." This incident, so characteristic of student bodies, reflects the same attitude : " The fellows inquire after you every day. This morning Professor Green called your name. Although it was quite unexpected, it created an instantaneous and respectable stamp." These incidents are cited to show Edward Judson's innate independence of spirit, his standing as a student, and, incidentally, his popularity with his fellows. In college, as in later life, he was always a man. Whether in camp, or tent, or committee conference, he stood under his own burden and never leaned upon another.

Edward Judson was graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts on September 6, 1865. He was chosen to deliver the classical oration, taking for his theme, " The Myth of Prometheus Vinctus." By his scholarship he won a coveted Phi Beta Kappa key.

He accepted the principalship of Leland and Gray Seminary at Townshend, Vermont, where he served with marked success for two years. In later years he had delight in telling how a farmer, mistaking him for one of the boys in the school, called out, " Here, bub, help me load this grain." Though youthful in appearance, this letter written to his sister in April, 1867, reflects the trend of his thought and his very serious purpose at the time.

I am sadly undecided as to my future course of life. I think I have gleaned all the benefits which accrue from teaching in Townshend, and perhaps from teaching anywhere. In fact, strange as it may seem, teaching is losing its charm for me. I feel the more sad in view of this discontent, because I feel as if I had as good a chance of doing good by teaching here as by engaging in any other profession. My school is a kind of little church and congregation, and made up too, of persons of such an age that they can be most easily impressed by the subject of religion. We have two prayer-meetings a week, one on Wednesday evening and one on Monday evening. So that every term there are several conversions, and sometimes we have extensive revivals, in which almost all the unconverted in school are turned to God. . .

In view of these things I have a growing conviction that as the conversion of sinners is the noblest business of life, I could not accomplish any more good by directly becoming a minister than I can by remaining a teacher and yet do some pastoral work. Connect with this growing conviction my growing discontent in the business of teaching, and you can gain some idea of the distracted and restless state of mind which I indulge in. . . One of the bitterest curses of life is the fact that we are called on to make the most important decisions — decisions which involve our whole future happiness, just at that time of life when we have the least experience.

After his retirement from this school he entered the theological department of Madison University, in the fall of 1867, but remained for a few weeks only, when he became Instructor in Languages in the university. In 1868 he became Professor of Latin and Modern Languages. This brought him into close association with Doctor Dodge, who in the same year was elected to the presidency. In this position Edward Judson's tastes as a linguist had free scope. Colgate men of that period are enthusiastic in speaking of Professor Judson as a teacher of Latin.

He was following the line of least resistance. By hereditary tendency, by early training, and by choice he was a linguist and as naturally a teacher. But there was another inherited trait which was dominant. His soul was of the heroic type. For Edward Judson the line of least resistance was the line most to be resisted. He instinctively took the hard and rugged way. During this professorship he was accustomed to preach in schoolhouses and in neighboring churches. Some of these early sermons are still preserved. It was during this time that he began to apply to Bible study his skill as a linguist. From that time almost to the day of his death it was his custom to read daily a portion of the Old Testament and a portion of the New Testament in two or more languages and in systematic course so as to cover the entire Old Testament once and the New Testament twice during each year. A much worn Bible, that is now among the cherished possessions of the writer, gives a record of these readings from 1877 down to Monday, October nineteenth, preceding his death on Friday the twenty-third. The record shows that these readings were in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, French, and English. One of the writer's delightful recollections of association with Doctor Judson concerns a Sunday morning in September, 1912, when, in camp on an island in the center of Tomogami Lake in the heart of the Canadian woods where man's hand had made neither road nor clearing, Doctor Judson read aloud in Llebrew and translated into English while the writer followed a Latin translation.

It was during the period of his residence in Hamilton that he married Antoinette Barstow, the daughter of the

Rev. Charles Barstow, a Congregational pastor then located at Lebanon, New York, seven miles from Hamilton.

In 1874, Professor Judson resigned his professorship, and with Mrs. Judson sailed for Europe for a year of study and travel. While they were abroad the North Orange Baptist Church, one of the churches known in that day, as in this, for its culture, its wide educational and missionary outlook, and for its general strength and aggressiveness, called him as its pastor.

While he resigned his professorship and became a pastor, he did not cease to be a scholar and a teacher. He carried his scholarly habits into the pastorate, and never ceased to be a teacher, though he had become pastor and preacher.

He took particular pleasure, as did his father, in training young men. His connection with educational institutions gave him a greater opportunity for such influence than his father ever had. To the close of his life he was accustomed to invite groups of young ministers to his study one morning each week for homiletical work. He required only that each of the group should preach in his own pulpit the sermon which all had helped to shape.

He continued his scholarly pursuits to the end of his life, though in later years his exacting responsibilities limited his opportunity. He found daily Bible study a superb field for a comparative language study. He was a careful student of English literature, particularly of the poets, and as he had opportunity he took courses in university classrooms. Late in life he took lectures in Hebrew at Union Theological Seminary, and a course in the Minor Prophets in Hebrew at Chicago University. His university courses included studies in Sociology and History at Columbia and New York Universities. The example he set in taking postgraduate study, though beset by clamorous duties, led other ministers to pursue similar courses. The writer is grateful for such an influence in his own life.

Doctor Judson's desire for definite teaching in college or seminary would not down. During his ministry at North Orange and the early years of his life in New York City, he denied the impulse, but when, in 1897, he was invited to act as Instructor in Pastoral Theology in the Theological Seminary of Colgate University, he yielded. During the winter term he gave lectures on " Church Organizations and Work and Pastoral Duties," but preached in his own pulpit on Sundays. He was the more willing to do this because it brought some financial relief to the Memorial Church which, from about that time until the day of his death, presented financial problems difficult to meet.

The welcome which he received in Hamilton is fittingly expressed by his friend, Dr. William N. Clarke :

You will be welcome to our fellowship and affection, and an open door of useful service will be before you here. I shall personally enjoy having you near, for it will give me a fresh sense of present fellowship that will be grateful to my heart.

Edward Judson gave this charming picture of the home which at that time he established in Hamilton:

I have a rambling old frame house up in Hamilton — a kind of shell into which I can withdraw when I grow old. It is pleasant to have a little place to which to retire when New York has little by little squeezed the juice out of me like an orange, leaving nothing but the acrid rind. In front of the house is a pretty little lawn, and back of it a yard, where stand some ancient apple trees, and back of all is an old ramshackle barn, where the pigeons make their nests. Now these old apple trees are very interesting. In the early spring they seem dead. The boughs and twigs are bare, but after a little while there come leaf-buds; these unfold, and the trees are clothed with leaves. Then the beautiful blossoms, then the falling of the petals, and then is left the tiny green fruit. The leaf always comes first, then the blossom, then the fruit.

He once found himself an intruder in his own home :

In the early summer, a robin came and built her nest in the porch of my little country cottage. The place had been left unoccupied during the winter and spring. When I discovered her advent, I was much pleased that she had chosen my little house for her home. She had already laid four eggs in her nest — the hostages of fortune. I began at once to form plans for cooperating with her domestic economy. There soon would be four great yellow mouths wide open and clamorous for nourishment. I would put food close at hand. The mother bird would not have to make long and laborious foraging expeditions. What do you suppose that robin did? Directly she became aware of my return she deserted her nest. Nothing would bring her back. She sat in a near-by tree, sullen and suspicious, and allowed her nest with all its precious freight to lapse into ruin. She would not trust me, so I could do nothing for her. Poor human nature finds it just as hard to trust God, and yet we shall never learn to love him, except as we acquiesce in a relation of perfect dependence upon him, so that he shall have his way through us. — An extract from a sermon.

Doctor Judson's ability as teacher was soon recognized in a signal manner by three strong educational institutions. By each of these recognitions he was compelled to make a decision quite as difficult as when he relinquished teaching to go into the Christian ministry, or when he surrendered his protected pastorate in North Orange to devote himself to social missionary service in lower New York with neither adequate personal support nor equipment for his work.

During the academic year ending in June, 1898, he was earnestly sought as president of Brown University, his alma mater, and also by Colgate University.

In July, 1898, a member of the faculty of Brown University wrote:

And the one thing that I desire for the future, as I have desired it and have expressed my desire for years, from before Doctor Robinson's resignation, is that you shall be the president of Brown University. I believe that you and the position have been preparing for each other. I want to tell you that a host of people will rejoice to have you here. I know the faculty, and I am sure that you will have their cordial and earnest support. The alumni will give you hearty welcome; and I am sure that no man can expect so much from them as you may be justified in expecting. I don't desire to see your great work in New York suffer, but I hope that the time has come when it will not be imperiled if you can lay it on others and come over to a great work here.

That strong pressure was brought to bear upon him not only by the faculty, but also by the members of the corporation, is evident from the following letter from a prominent member of that body under date of the same year :

I am in receipt of your kind letter of the eleventh, and am filled with disappointment at its contents. I have sent it to Doctor Hovey, the chairman of our committee, who will reply direct. In the meantime, I wish I could see some ray of hope in the direction the entire corporation and faculty of Brown University have been looking.

I, with others, have had my heart set on seeing you at the head of that university, especially during the time that my own boys are being educated there, but if it is not to be, it is not. If you are open to argument, however, I could give you many reasons why you should not turn this down.

Another member of the corporation, who had written earlier in the year, wrote, " I beg you to come to Brown."

He was as earnestly sought for the presidency of Colgate University during the latter part of the academic year of 1898. The following memorial was presented by the members of the university faculty :

To the Rev. Edward Judson, D. D., New York:

The undersigned, members of the faculty of Colgate University, do most sincerely and urgently request that you will favorably consider the overtures made to you by our trustees, with reference to your becoming our president. We are of one mind in the desire that you may become president of Colgate University, and in support of this desire and request we would urge the following considerations :

We are convinced that you have exceptional power to unite the working forces of the university, including trustees, faculty, and students, and at the same time to represent and commend us abroad, and hold the favor and support of our friends everywhere.

We plainly see that there is ample work for you here, worthy of your best abilities and offering large opportunities of usefulness. A noble service, both educational and religious, awaits you if you come to us.

Our call to you is the expression of a real need, for we are suffering for want of an executive head, and are certain henceforth to suffer still more if we do not obtain one; and we see in you the man that we want.

For these reasons we wish you to come to us, and we trust that in all this you may see providential indications of your duty. Sincerely hoping for a favorable result, we are, etc.

This was signed by every member of the faculty except three; two of these were absent and the third had resigned, but two of these three sent personal letters. One member of the faculty, eminent in his department, wrote under date of May first :

Will you permit me to tell you in a more private and personal way how genuine and cordial is the petition which has come to you from the members of our faculty. The unsettled conditions of the past years press home the demand for a head, not less for aggressive administration than that his presence and spirit may filter down through all that share the life of the university. You would be such a president. In the utmost sincerity and freedom, may I tell you this. Your knowledge of our history, your love of this place, your gentleness, toleration, and firmness, and the universal respect of the churches of our name for you, fit you for us in a singular way. I do not know of any one to whom the faculty turn with so much harmony as to you.

The following letter from Dr. William N. Clarke reflects the intimacy of the two men, and makes it quite clear that many of Doctor Judson's friends felt that he, Mrs. Judson, and their daughters had filled to the full the measure of their sacrifice and that he ought in his last years to devote himself to work that would be less rigorous in its demands.

The period of heaviest sacrifice in your enterprise in New York is now past. The heaviest of the sacrifice of that period has been made by you and by your family. No one else has sacrificed anything like as much as you and your wife and children. To a friend and lover outside, it looks as if enough had gone from that quarter into the enterprise, or at least as if you four would be justified in taking up some other worthy service, and trusting that enterprise to other hands. Some one else will have to take it by and by, as a matter of course, and to me it seems that now is the time.

Besides, we want you, just you yourself, and not another. So come along, and give us your hand, and do us good. We want you immensely and we don't want to take no for an answer. Don't let me have to speak to you again.

It was quite another plea that came from Doctor Judson's associates in New York. He had put his hand to the plow, and could not turn back. Mr. George Wellwood Murray, a lawyer of high standing, secretary of the board of trustees of the Memorial Church, who, actuated by the same motive as Doctor Judson, had stood for long years by his side, wrote under date of May thirty-first :

Your recent letter has filled me with dismay and foreboding. I do not for an instant doubt your perfect sincerity in believing that you could conduct the proposed new work at Hamilton and the old work at New York at the same time, but I am satisfied that in this you are mistaken. And what would become of the Memorial Church, either on its spiritual side or its financial side, I do not know and fear to contemplate ! I know very well, and I think appreciate fully, the forces that would draw you to the work at Hamilton. It is an entirely honorable work, and I can well understand that educational work would be in accordance with your own tastes. But here lies this church, humanly speaking, absolutely your own creation. Many of us think that it embodies the solution of a mighty problem. It is largely the expression of your own individuality. I do not believe that you can afford to leave it.

His long-time associate, the Rev. James M. Bruce, wrote just at that time with no less feeling and conviction:

I can well understand the attractions which the latter position has for you. At the same time, when I call up before my mind's eye that superb property that you have acquired and created at the historic New York Square, and in a locality where it stands for so much that is grandest in missionary achievement, the position of its presiding and inspiring head seems to me one that any man might be glad to give all his life to, all his life long. With what it involves in the way of molding and impelling influence for similar endeavor, it is in my estimation a greater and more distinguished post than the other.