Life and letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D. D., late one of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal church

Preface

It will interest the many ardent admirers of the beloved subject of this memoir, to observe that he has been mainly his own biographer. In preparing the work for the press a sufficient amount of material has passed under revision to form another volume, which may hereafter be published, bearing the title, u Remains of Bishop H aniline, comprising Sermons, Addresses," etc.

Our aim in this volume is to present, for the glory of the Head of the Church, a life-picture of one who, having cast anchor within the vail, dwelt in the inner sanctuary of the divine presence. If the image of the heavenly was stamped upon the outer man to a degree not often witnessed in fallen humanity, it was because he was to an unusual degree a subject of the blessed Holy Spirit's in workings. Of the manner of these in workings we have permitted him to speak for himself, in his familiar letters and diary, which were an ever faithful transcript of his deeply devoted, affectionate heart. Some may imagine that we have allowed too much minuteness of detail. Our apology is that we - the msn. and feel that, if we would

4 PREFACE.

have others dwell on the heaTen-illumined picture which his precious life presents, the minutiae, as given in his diary and letters, are needful to make up the tout ensemble of one whom our affectionate and religious preferences have ever regarded as a man of extraordinary piety and power.

The Author,

New York, April 23, 1866.

AN AFFECTIONATE TRIBUTE

To the Memory of Leonid as L. Hamline, D.D., late one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, hy one of his Colleagues in the Episcopacy, and one of his Associates in the Pastorate.

The acquaintance of one of us with the late Bishop Hamline extends back to the year 1834, when he was stationed with the bishop in the city of Cincinnati.

It is not ours to trace the incidents of the good man's life, but simply to offer a tribute to his memory.

When we first knew Bishop Hamline he was a gentleman, a scholar, a Christian, and a minister. His person was commanding, his voice musical, his manners engaging. In the pulpit he was self-restrained, self-possessed, and grave ; in his attitudes, utterances, and tones, showing mingled humility and dignity. We never heard him while proclaiming God's word say an indiscreet or inappropriate thing. He seemed to feel that as God is in earnest, and Christ and apostles, it became him to be earnest too. He was rarely severe, though he was eminently capable of being so. Occasionally he indulged in invective and declamation, but it was with an evident hiding of power. " Thou baptized infidel," with which he introduced an awful denunciation of false doctrine, was the harshest expression we ever heard him use.

His style was faultless : but to say this was not enough, it was charming; it had clearness, energy, purity, and elegance. For choice diction and beautiful variety of sentences we have never met with his equal among his brethren. His sermons were finished from end to end. Examine exordium, argumentation, refutation, or peroration separately, and you find each perfect. Combine them, and you have a connected, compact discourse, which it would be difficult for the critic to improve. It was not only his rhetoric that was faultless; his logic was carefully constructed, yet always sparingly, often brilliantly —

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logic all ablaze. He rarely delivered a discourse which might not have been printed word for word as it fell from his lips, and safely submitted to the critical eye. He rarely if ever used in the pulpit a superfluous word or a bad sentence. With less brilliancy than Bascom, a less majestic sweep of thought than Olin, he had more compactness than either. If the first was like the flying artillery of Napoleon, the second like the steady line of Wellington, the last was like the close, strong, neat column of Fredeiick, marching with accumulating force upon the foe.

Such sermons as his could not be purely extempore. While Bishop Hamline was on a circuit he probably never penned a discourse, nevertheless his efforts may have been precomposed — written on the brain; every sentence, ay, every interlineation, as distinct as if traced on the paper. When he was stationed he found the utility of writing sermons. Some of these he probably memorized, though he generally took the manuscript into the pulpit. He could write a full length sermon on a single sheet of letter paper by dividing each page into four columns by means of black lines and writing in a fine hand. His eye was so good, and his memory too, that he could deliver a sermon from such a sheet with much of the effect of extemporaneous discourse, and perhaps the hearer supposed that the paper before the preacher contained but a few notes. But his most effective discourses were his earlier and extempore ones. His sermons, though elaborate, were popular — understood even by illiterate hearers; they were also evangelical, scriptural, varied. Some were doctrinal, some hortatory, some preceptive, some historical It is doubtful whether he succeeded best in delineation of character, the defense of truth, the application of the word to the troubled heart, or the searching of the sinner's conscience, so well did he succeed in all. Bascom excelled him in the first, Christie in the second, Summerfield in the third, and Bigelow in the last, but no one of them could do all as well as he. His sermons (to be published) will, we think, justify all this. In our judgment he erred, after he became a bishop, in supposing that he ought not to study the graces which marked his earlier productions.

Mr. Hamline was as circumspect in private as in public. In conversation he never hesitated, halted, or corrected, but, deliberating before he spoke, his words were choice, and they fell

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into perfect sentences. His manners were courteous and his spirit kind, and although he often unbent he never lost his dignity. We never heard him relate a silly anecdote, or use any sentence that might not have been repeated in presence of a lady. When compelled to speak on indelicate subjects it was in guarded and euphemistic phrase.

At an early period of his ministry he was deprived of his wife. The calamity could not but affect, deeply and long, his sensitive nature. The departed mother left young children for whom the father had the most intense solicitude, and when he visited them his prayers were enough to melt the stoutest heart. Providence favored, and he drew a second prize in the lottery of marriage. After the shadow passed off and the sunshine came on again, he was the same sober-minded, considerate Christian at his happy fireside.

In deliberative bodies he was unobtrusive ; he seldom took any part in Conference except to write and sustain a report. He did not seek pre-eminence, although it is very probable that he enjoyed it. He knew that the surest way to distinction in debate is to say nothing until a favorable opportunity occurs. Such a one occurred at the General Conference of 1844, in which his speech put him in the front rank of his brethren, and, to the surprise of the delegation to which he belonged, elevated him to the episcopacy. That speech was carefully prepared. At the close of one of the sessions of the body he invited a delegate to dine with him, and carefully examined with him the provisions of the Discipline in regard to the powers of the General Conference over the episcopacy, and went through his argument verbally. Subsequently he took the delegate referred to and two others aside and read to them a sketch of his speech, requesting their criticisms, more probably for the purpose of support than counsel. From this skeleton, when perfected, the speech was written. After it was perfectly committed, the orator came forth, calm, self-possessed, uttering every sentence distinctly, planting every argument securely, carrying every position triumphantly ! It was like the storming of a battery by a forlorn hope. As the flag of the successful party was planted on the heights, every member of it felt not only relieved, but ready to shout. Bishop Hamline was well known to the Church before this both as a preacher and writer, for he

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had been, in association with Dr. Elliott, editor of the Western Christian Advocate, and subsequently sole editor of the Ladies' Kepository, a work in which his genius was fitted to shine.

As a presiding and executive officer he was popular and successful ; but under the pressure of disease and infirmities, which, in his estimation, disqualified him for the arduous duties and heavy responsibilities of the episcopacy, he resigned that position in 1852. Having an ample fortune, he devoted his last years, as far as his health would allow, to literary and religious studies, and the interests of the Church.

Although Bishop Hamline had a strong intellect, his imagination was perhaps the predominating faculty. This accounts for that tendency to depression which marked his character even before he became a bishop, and was urged by those who knew him best as a reason against his election. This, however, should be said, that in all his nervous depression he maintained his hope of heaven and his faith in God unwaveringly.

While editor of the Repository he sought for that blessing of perfect love which Wesley so clearly describes, and many of his early disciples, as well as himself, so beautifully illustrated. Happily the witnesses are not all dead ! May their numbers be multiplied until the Church is filled with living evangels! May the whole Church learn the secret of a life hid with Christ in God ! E. S. Janes, . E. Thomson.

Dr. W. C. Palmer: Dear Brother, — I am pleased to learn that you are preparing for publication a memoir of our lamented friend and brother, the late Bishop Hamline. The tribute is just. u The righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance." He was a man of mark among his brethren, not only for superior talent, but also for deep, consistent piety and usefulness.

He devoted his time and talent, strength and substance, soul and body, life and reputation, wealth and influence to the cause of the glorious. Redeemer, in whose presence he now weal's the crown of life. Relieved from his sore and protracted afflictions, he awaits the arrival of his religious friends where pain and death can never come. May we follow him as he followed Christ!

Springfield, Ohio. T. A. MORRIS,

Contents

CHAPTER L

fflS EARLY DAYS.

Early Days — Parentage — Designed for the Ministry — Studious Habits — Religious Interest — Singular Incident — Power in Debate — Universalist Minister — Infidel Silenced — His Marriage. . .Pages 15-20