EX
445,
M44

Vat

 

 
     
  
  
     
     
   
 

CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

ITHACA HERITAGE BOOKS

ENDOWED IN 1976

 

BY

ALEXIS AND ANASTASIA ROMANOFF

For the Benefit of the Humanities

 

 
X 8495.M44V27

ork here, rest hereafter :or, The life
 

7 Ena
7 ~Lp
Brom

 

Z H. Ritch
1a Photo. byB

BM iiitltion

 
Stork Bere, Hest Bereafter ;

OR
THE pire AND PHARACTER

OF

REY. HIRAM MATTISON, D.D.

BY

Her. VP Wansant.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY REV. EDWARD THOMSON, D.D.,LL.D.,

ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF ;
. ‘ lity
The Methodist Episcopal Church.,
‘ aeteBT cb oh,

1870: °
N. TIBBALS & SON,
87 ParE Row, Nuw, Yors.
Aye i {) (4

, aa
ty ew

LE
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1870, by
N. TIBBALS & SON,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the

Southern Distrct of New York,

    

iy Shee
“ay C Q (4 Vik.

- Menanyauigo

 
 
edicution,

TO THE
Brack fiver PONFERENCE,

in which the subject of these Menvirs
began his itinerant Ministry, and emtinued
the same amid abundant Iubors,
afflictions, and successes, for
more than twenty-
five years:
AND THE

Newark CoNFERENCE,
which welcomed him to its Fellowship
in his ripened manhood; honored him with
one of its chief pastorates ; looked: with just
pride upon his heroic struggles for the Ricur; and,
in common with “ many thousands of Israel,”

lamented him in Deatn,

Is this Volume affectionately inscribed by

dae frotHor.
PREFACE,

Tue title of this volume was suggested by Dr. Matti-
son’s characteristic reply, when, in the last year of his life
he was invited by Rev. Jesse S. Gilbert to address the
Sabbath School of his Church: “ We must work here,”
he said, “and rest hereafter... So fully was the one part
of this motto exemplified in his life, and the future
realization of the other part foreshadowed in his death,
that the adoption of it as a title to his memoirs seemed
‘eminently appropriate.

The author, while entertaining a profound admiration
of his subject, has sought to be strictly impartial in pre-
senting his life and character; but if at any point there
has been a failure in this respect, it must be attributed
to the undue leanings of a long and intimate friend-
ship.

Great pleasure is felt in acknowledging the important
aid received from the several persons, ministerial and
lay, whose contributions are duly credited in the body of
the work. A free and valuable use has been made of the
material thus furnished. Thanks are also tendered to the
various friends by whom appropriate suggestions have
been made, but whose names do not appear in the
book.

N. V.
Newton, N. J.
Gontents, -

PART I.
LIFE.

OHAPTE!.

INTRODUCTION. - & <s
I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. -

II. CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

III. Earzuy Irinrrant Experiences,
IV. Brste AGENcy In New JERSEY. -
‘V. Return to THE PASTORATE. -
VI. Fant ver Pursvuine. -

VIL A Marriage AND A FUNERAL.
VIII. Cioupy Days. - -
IX. Returnine SUNSHINE. -
X. A Fierce Barrie WELL Foucur.

PART It.
CHARACTER.
I. ScHOLARSHIP.

Il. ConrenpIna EARNESTLY FOR THE Faira.

Ill. In tHe Powprrr. - - -

IV. Aurnorsurr. - - -

LV. DIversity oF GIFTS. -

VI. SoctanE anD DomEstio Lire.-
VUI. A Brititant Sunser. - -

PAGE.

10
17
23
30
37
45
54
63
75

99
109
126
143
154
162
175

GLEANINGS: Boyhood Recollections—“ Delivered out of
the Mouth of the Lion’’—Temperance Orthodoxy——Revivals and
How to Promote then— Valedictory—Conference Record—“ For-
bearing one another in Love’—The Secret Source of Power—

The “ Better Country”—“ Whose Faith Follow.”

195-252
INTRODUCTION.

  

E can scarcely have too much well-
written Biography of good men.
r It is history teaching by example.
“41 The soul of man, even in its ruins, is
- sublime, and its experience of divine
grace, its struggles through the Christian
conflict, and its triumphant passage from
the world, constitute a chapter into which angels
might desire to look.

The subject ‘of this memoir was no ordinary man.
A native of New York, of Puritan stock, and repu-
table parentage ; and reared, not in the lap of luxury,
‘but in the paths of toil, he exhibited the American
character in its best aspects.

Notwithstanding he had to contend from infancy
with a feeble constitution, and frequently to suffer

 
 
   
  

Ww
x INTRODUCTION.

from impaired health, his life was one of incessant and
sucessful toil.

Though early made acquainted with the theology
of Methodism, it was not until his faculties had
matured, that he became a subject of grace, and then
he had an experience most thorough and marked.

As a speaker, his manner was deliberate, his matter
weighty, and his style of transparent clearness. His
positiveness and power made him many antagonists,
and his daring brought him into several public discus-
sions, some written, some oral , inall of which he dis-
played great coolness and adroitness of argumentation.

As a periodical writer he evinced skill, and his edi-
torial management of the “‘ Conservative,” and “The
Primitive Christian,” was able.

In the Agency of the “ American Bible Society,” as
well as in that of “ American and Foreign Christian
Union,” his fidelity, sagacity, and success, were re-
markable.

His works on Astronomy, the Trinity, the Immor-
tality of the Soul, and the Resurrection of the Body,
will last.

In the Slavery controversy he early took the side
of the right, and both in Annual and General Confer-

“ences, in the pulpit and on the platform, he gave to
INTRODUCTION. xi

the “great evil,” terrible blows. Of course, he met
with sturdy opponents, and having no tendency to
compromise or conciliate, he made many enemies, and
never became a popular favorite.

Overlooked in the distribution of offices, surrounded
by unrelenting antagonists, injured, as he supposed,
by legislation specially enacted to embarrass him, and
desiring a home more permanent than the Itinerancy
could give him, he, in an unlucky moment, left the M.
E. Church, and became pastor of St. John’s Indepen-
dent Methodist Church. It will be interesting to all,
and profitable to many of us to trace his struggles in
this transition. No man whose-mind is accustomed
to thought, or whose heart is not dead to feeling, can
leave the Church of his fathers, and of his choice ,
the church in which he has been educated, regenerated,
and blessed, without many tears, and especially if he
have ministered at its altars, enjoyed its generous
support, led souls to its baptismal font, and welcomed
them to its communion.

“No man is wise at all hours.” It seems wonder-
ful that a manof Mr. Mattison’s sagacity, should un-
dertake to stand alone in the Christian world.
Amazing power, tremendous energy, and the hide of
a, rhinoceros, are necessary to play the part of a
xii INTRODUCTION.

religious Ishmaelite. And how evanescent must be
the result of his labors! The grave must soon re-
ceive him, and even a few weeks of sickness may
arrest his work. And yet Mr. Mattison with all the
examples which the history of his own church, and-
of others, afforded him, took this position, Four
years of hard labor, aud much tribulation, were neces-
sary to convince him of his error. He had however,
this apology for his Independency. He believed our
church to be wrong’on the slavery question, and other
churches wrong on certain fundamental doctrinal ques-
tions ; the same tender conscience which drove him
from our church, barred him from others. The war
of the Great Rebellion, wrought wonderful changes
both in the church and the nation, and these afforded
_him an admirable pretext for returning to the bosom
of the M. E. Church,

Long before he returned, he stated to the writer
that he was thoroughly convinced that no man should
occupy any pulpit more than four consecutive years ;
and that every year’s experience deepened his convic-
tion of the value , and even necessity of the Itinerancy,

He returned to the Church as a Local Preacher, and
advanced to the Itinerant ministry in full connection,
by the steps of the novitiate. Ata re-union of the
INTRODUCTION. xiii

Wyoming and Oneida Conferences, held at Ithica
shortly after his return, he was among the first to
speak, saying that he felt like the returning prodigal,
who having reached his father’s house, and obtained
his father’s forgiveness, was enjoying the fatted calf.

Before the world, he stood as the able preacher,
the gifted writer, the stern controversialist, the un-
sparing antagonist; but he was not without the
gentler and more attractive elements of character.
He was an amiable, communicative, entertaining com-
panion, a generous friend, and a loving husband and
father,

From his rough breast a babe could preas

Soft milk of human tenderness.”
On all the storms of his life were rainbows, but only
his more intimate friends were in position to see them.
Happily, we have his Biography from the pen of a
friend who was able to penetrate to the inner life of
the man, and to describe with clearness, discrimina-
tion, and beauty, those good qualities which were
hidden from superficial observers,

The deeper we penetrate into a bad man, the worse
he appears ; but the deeper we penetrate into a good
one, the better he seems. If you find one radically
right, you can easily magnify his excellences, and
xiv INTRODUCTION.

diminish his defects ; you can set him in new attitudes
to things, and new relations to men, which shall show
him to advantage ; you can make due allowance for
mistakes, and misapprehensions, and deceitful ap-
pearances, and can assign right motives for acts
which have been injurious, or schemes that have
miscarried.

In doing so, you are not drawing a wrong
picture, but a right one; the rough sketch of the
world is imperfect, the one you have filled up is the
true one; if men do not think so, it is not. because
you are wanting in art, but they in taste. It isa
satisfaction toa good man, to know that God’s all
seeing eye searches him, for though it may find a
thousand sins which human eye cannot discern, or
human malice conceive, it finds also mistakes and acts
of penitence and prayer, and trust and faith, that
even human charity,could not imagine. God sees the
sorrows with which no man intermeddleth, and the
desolations which draw tears that fall in his sight
only. -

The young preacher will be able to ponder this
“Life and Character,” with great profit. True, he
will see many defects and.errors which he should
‘avoid, for the man is not human who has none of
INTRODUCTION. XV

these. That is‘a fine remark which Lessing makes
concerning Luther :

“T venerate Luther to such a degree, that I am glad
to -have discovered some faults i him, otherwise I
should have been in danger of apotheosizing him.
The traces of the human which I find upon him, are
as precious to mesas the most dazzling of his perfec-
tions.”

In this “ Life and Character,” are also to be found
shining qualities—great facility of adaptation to
circumstances, wonderful versatility of genius, accu-
racy and completeness in all work, patient endurance
under opposition, devotion to the right, candor in
acknowledging faults ; above all, a striking example
of the old Latin maxim, “ Labor overcomes all things.”
We see here a man of but ordinary abilities, starting
out in life with defective education, yet, by steady
application, making himself respectable, useful, emi-
nent, both asa speaker and writer. “Go thou and
do likewise.”

E, THOMSON,
LIFE.

   
  

Not known by bustle, but by useful deeda;

e
“Quiet and gentle, clear and fair as light,

a) 8
Yet full of all {ta penetrating influence;
Waating no needless sound, yet ever working

Hour after hour, upon a needy world.

(Boman,
 

CHAPTER L

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

"HE memory of the just is blessed.” This
is not less true to-day, than it was when

  
 
   

39 the wise man penned it centuries ago.
Especially is it true of those who in life,
were eminent for their piety and usefulness,
( and in death, ‘‘witnessed a good confession.”
® Tt is fitting that the memory of such should be
perpetuated by some enduring record, and not be left
wholly to an uncertain tradition. This rule will apply
with more than ordinary force to the distinguished subject
of these memoirs.

He was born near the beginning of the present century,
February 8, 1811, a time when‘ the world was making
2 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
*

new and marvellous strides in discovery, invention, and
philanthropy.

He was cradled amid the strife and din of war, his wild
border home on Lake Ontario, being mado a scene of conflict
and desolation, by the warof 1812-15, His life thus began
in stirring times, to the early inspiration of which may be
attributed, in part, the restless activity and tireless enter-
prise of his nature.

But we must trace to his parentage more directly those
striking elements of character which made him what he
was. His father and mother, Solomon and Lydia W.
Mattison, were both natives of New England, and partook
largely of the distinguishing traits peculiar to the early
settlers of that soil. The mother was a woman of great
integrity of purpose, energy and fortitude. She not only
reared her own twelve children, teaching them to care for
themselves, but, in the course of her long and useful life
did the same for ten others, who had not homes for them-
selves. The father was a man of excellent sense, and of
good education for the times in which he lived; mild in
temperament, and possessing a good degree of executive
ability and inventive skill.

Early inthe year 1814, they left the town of Norway, Her-
kimer County, New York, the birth-place of Hiram, and a
younger brother, and settled in Oswego County, near the
present city of Oswego. - Their new home was a secluded
wilderness farm, with not even a public road in the vicin-
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 3

ity; and the prevailing solitude was not unfrequently bro-
ken by the howling of the wolf, to whose voracious appe-
tite, most of the sheep, driven with great difficulty from
their former place of residence, became an early prey.
Here they found themselves without churches, or schools,
or near neighbors; and, to crown the misfortunes of their
situation, the father was drafted to serve in the army, and
obliged to leave the mother, with her three little ones, to
her own energy and self-reliance. And right nobly did
she acquit herself in these trying circumstances, performing
with her own hands the work of her absent husband, and
gathering the products of their little patch of cleared
land, to shelter and safety.

An incident will show the perils to which they were
exposed, and the good providence of God that watched
over them. “On the 6th of May, 1814, Oswego was
occupied by the British forces from Canada, under Gen-
eral Drummond. During the following night a body of
soldiers, drunk with the whiskey they had seized in the
town, made a raid into the surrounding country, and
approached the log cabin of Mrs. Mattison. Little Hiram,
three years and three months old, lay asleep in a bunk
against the walls. His terrified mother snatched him from
his slumbers and fled to the woods with him in her arms.
Tne soldiers fired on the house, and then entered and ran-
sacked it. When they had left, the frightened family re-
turned. What was the gratitude of the mother, to find
4 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

that her timely retreat had saved the life of her boy!
A British bullet had entered the opposite side of the
house and sunk deep into a log in the wall at the very
spot where Hiram lay. Had he lain there a few minutes
longer; that bullet had passed through his body! Thus,
the God whose providence saved Moses from the crocodiles,
and Wesley from the flames, saved Mattison from the
marauder’s bullet, to yet do a great work for him.’””* -

The parents had early embraced religion, and united
with the Methodist Episcopal Church, which at that time,
in the sparsely inhabited country where they settled, had
avery feeble and unpromising existence, with more enemies
than friends; yet the worn and hungry circuit preacher
always found a warm welcome within their hospitable
home, and an annuity from its savings toward his support;
for they regarded him as an ambassador of Christ, and
worthy of all honor for the sake of Christ. Living to “a
good old age,” they saw that Church increase from its
small beginnings, to a large and influential denomination,
and continuing in her fellowship, died at last full of honors,
from God and from men.t

It was under the training of such parents, and. amid
such influences, that the seed was sown which produced

 

* Memorial Sermon of Rev. G. L. Taylor.

+ Of the mother we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Her
death occurred December 3, 1865. That of the father took place
June 12, 1869. The day following, his eldest daughter, Mrs. Lucy
W. Morgan, wrote thus: “My venerable father died last evening,
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 5

the golden harvest of results, so apparent in the life of
oursubject. Was therenot a beautiful consonance between
the seed and the harvest, between the sowing and the
reaping? A living preacher and writer has eloquently
said, ‘The. Revolution did not make Washington. Emer-
gency does not make principles or men; it only develops
and applies their powers. The greatness and glory of
our hero, must be traced to the nursery of Lady Washing-
ton.”* So our humbler hero betrayed from the first, the
deep impress of parental character and training. In
respect to his physical constitution and health, he was,
indeed, unlike either of his parents, being delicate and
feeble from his birth, and, but for the simple, hardy life of
a farmer’s son, would probably never have attained to
manhood. But in decision, ingenuity, and energy, his
character was a true antitype of theirs.

As a boy he had aremarkable genius for mechanics,
and was ever busy with various kinds of machinery, the
streams on and near his fathér’s farm, being often diverted
in their course to run his miniature mills of varied and
skilful construction. He seemed able nof only to compre-

 

from paralysis of four days duration, The sudden death of his
first-born, the son of his love and pride, was very severe upon him,
and- has perceptibly contributed to this final result. Calmly and
peacefully, in perfect hope and trust, he has ‘joined the loved ones
gone before ;? while his sorrowing children, with thankfulness for
his long life and good example, seek to bear the trial with patience
and resignation to the will of Him whom he loved and in whom
he trusted.”

* Rev. Jesse T. Peck, D. D.
6 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

hend at a glance, the principle and power of action, but
also to make and put in successful operation what he saw.
He had a natural taste for drawing, and could easily illus-
trate by this means, what seemed unresolvable by ordinary
ones. He was highly imaginative and poetic, mostly on
serious and religious subjects. With remarkable energy
and tenacity of purpose, he was often daring and unflinch-
ing to the last degree, as a result of which he had ‘many
hair-breadth escapes from injury and death. As it was,
nearly half of his childhood was passed in pain and bodily
disability, from injuries received in daring exploits and
enterprises. But these difficulties, though added to a
naturally delicate constitution, did not extinguish the fire
within him, but acted only as a wholesome damper to con-
trol and preserve it for future use. Still he was busy
making or inventing something, a strong, vigorous mind,
controlling the feeble, disabled body; and not until he was
sixteen years old, did he possess sufficient health for the
performance of even ordinary duties.

Being of a serious and contemplative turn of mind,
with great veneration for sacred things, the school-boys
would sometimes taunt him with the name of Methodist,
and carnal weapons being at that time, more familar to
him than spiritual, his assailants would as often feel their
force.

His early school advantages were small, and even those
within his reach he was restrained from using, except very
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 7

partially, through extreme physical frailty; yet his ever
active mind was continually grappling the great thoughts
pertaining to human education, and with a quickness of
perception, and a persistency of effort peculiarly his own,
he mastered whatever he undertook. This was seen, as
he grew older, in the means adopted by him to gratify his
great fondness for books. Not content with the limited
supply in his father’s library, he procured others by be- :
coming an agent for their sale; and by a diligent study of
these hard-earned volumes, added to the limited knowledge
acquired in the district school, he fitted himself for the
work of a teacher, and while yet a youth took shang of
a school in the adjacent district.

* We have thus given an outline history of the earlier .
years of Mr. Mattison ; and no one acquainted with him in
after life can fail to see in this history a striking illustra- -

tion of that well known line of Wordsworth :
“ The Child is father of the Man ;”

or as John Milton had written it a hundred and fifty years

before:
“The childhood shows the man

As morning shows the day.”

The delicate frame of his infancy and childhood, was a
true type of the feeble body which he carried with him all
through his riper years, and which attended him to the
close of life. Many aone with such a body would have
sunk into an early grave ; but his unconquerable ambition
kept him alive, a walking skeleton in appearence, buta
8 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

giant in energy. The first seeming was, that all efforts t
rear him, could be followed only by disappointment an
grief; or, to use a phrase more common than elegant, the
he was “not worth trying to raise.” The sequel in thi:
and multitudes of similar cases, best shows how little valu
attaches to the predictions of friends or even medical atten
dants, though sometimes made with oracular confidence
It is said of Dr. Lyman Beecher, that when he was fou
months old he weighed but as many pounds, his onl
cradle being a pillow supported by the nurse’s arms. A
active, healthy boy, twelve years of age, and sustaining
very tender relation to the author, when six weeks old, a
nearly resembled a living human skeleton as the reade
can well imagine, and was not less an object of decp mo
tification to his parents and friends, than he now isc
just pride. Let no doting mother as she yearns ove
wasted, unpromising infancy, or as she watches the totte1
ing footsteps of slender childhood, say in her heart, ‘]
is better for him to dio than to live;” for that emaciat
form may infold a germ of future greatness and glory
and conceal a power which shall one day shake the worl

The intellectual vigor and moral energy of Mr. Mattisor
was plainly foreshadowed in his earlier years. That h
should prove himself a man of more than ordinar
powers—a skilful debater, a vigorous writer, an extraord
nary preacher, a genius in mechanics, drawing, poetry an
music, and a successful business man, possessing a versé
CHIIDIOOD AND XOUTIL. 9

tility of talent scarcely surpassed by any, and equaled only
by a few—that all this should prove true of him was but
to be expected from the early scintillations of his greatness.
CHAPTER II.

CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

1G. ts xa “HAT Mr. Mattison’s conversion did no
22 occur till he was twenty-three year
YG old, seems to have been no fault of hi
}/ home training. Could godly examples, devou

    
   

prayers, and pious counsels have earlie
brought it to pass, it would have been done

=> © But however great our wonder and regret at th
unseemly delay, the singular providence which af lengt.
led to it, the manner of its occurrence, the thoroughnes
with which it was wrought, and the ‘blessed fruits tha
followed, cannot fail to excite our liveliest gratitude an:
joy:

Previous to this ‘date he had been united in marriag
with Miss Melinda Griswold, who afterward simultaneousl:
with himself sought and found the Lord.

About this time he was passing through that stage o
doubt and inquiry, which is too often mistaken for settle
skepticism or unbelief. Happily, God has his own mode
of reaching such minds. “ He had a sheet let down fror
CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 11

heaven for Peter, and a flash of celestial glory for Paul;
so he had a messenger for Hiram Mattison. One winter
evening, a British soldier who had deserted from Canada
and landed at Oswego, called at the school-master’s cottage,
and begged a supper and a night’s lodging. Mr. Mattison
gave him the only spare bed in the house, a blanket on the
floor before the fire. In the morning, the stranger gave
his host all he had to give, a cheap edition of an English
poem then recently published. It was Pollok’s ‘Course
of Time. That gift was more welcome than gold.
During the day Mr. Mattison was deeply absorbed in his
new treasure, and it proved to be more than a poem. Its
powerful statements of orthodox truth, its inspired ardor
and fire, and especially its solemn pictures of human des-
tiny at the close of time, made a profound impression upon
his mind. He was immediately awakened to a sense of
his need of God and religion, and sleep fled from him.
His wife awoke in the night to find him standing before
the fire weeping a flood of tears. She found that his dis-
tress had been caused by the book. He was under power-
ful religious conviction; ‘O, what shall I do?’ cried the
agonized man. ‘Pray, Hiram, pray,’ was the answer of
@ pious aunt in an adjoining room, awaked from her sleep
by his anguish. ‘O,I can’t pray!’ ‘But you must pray,’
rejoined the aunt, and the awakened man with his penitent

wife, fell before God and sent up the cry to heaven, ‘God
be merciful tome a sinner! For hours the struggle in
12 CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

prayer went on, until a sudden sense of relief, increasing
to thankfulness and great joy, filled the soul of the sup-
pliant. He seemed to himself a new man in a new world,
and his heart overflowed withlove to Godandman. Yet
being ignorant of the true nature of his feelings, on the next
evening he walked three miles to a little Methodist prayer
meeting, and presented himself as an inquirer. But
while he told the story of the previous day and night, and
how he then felt, the brethren cried out, ‘You are con-
verted already.’ ‘That’s just aswe felt when God con-
verted us!’ He was enabled to’ see that this was really
the case, and that the supreme spiritual transformation of
the, ‘new birth’ had truly transpired withinhim. He was.
‘a new creature,’ and‘rejoiced with joy unspeakable.’ ”*
It seemed a small matter for him to lodge a wandering
soldier for a night, but thereby he ‘entertained an angel
unawares.” Itseemed a smaller thing still. for that soldier
to leave behind. him a book, soiled and worn perhaps, but
that book was a stray arrow from the quiver of truth.
Oh, Providence had a mission for both the book and its
donor.t His, indeed, was but a way-side sowing of truth,

 

* Rev. George Lansing Taylor. :

+ A foot note in Dr. Mattison’s work on the Immortaltiy of the
Soul (page 379,) contains the following beautifnl allusion to this
book: “The writer was conyinced of sin, and led to Christ, in
December 1834, through the instrumentality of ‘The Course of
Time, a poem by Robert Pollok:

‘O happy day that fixed my choice,
On thee my Saviour and my God.’”
CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 13

but the fowls of the air devoured not all the seed; there
was one spot of “good ground.” on which it fell, and
' brought forth even more than a hundred-fold of blessed
results. How mighty for good, oftentimes, is indirect un-
conscious influence! A word fitly spoken; a tract given
away; an ejaculation uttered ; a helping hand extended—
these and kindred acts though performed incidentally,
under God’s blessing become ‘as nails fastened in a sure
place.”

"Equally well does this incident illustrate the reflex influ-
ence of a good’ deed. “He that watereth, shall be
watered also himself.” ‘ And whosoever shall give to
drink even unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water
only, in the name of adisciple, verily I say unto you he
shall in no wise lose his reward.” How little did the
inmates of that humble lake-shore home conjecture, that
the ‘honest, unpretending hospitality bestowed by them
ona poor wayfaring man, would come back to them so
soon, freighted with a thousand blessings !

Herein God was better even than his promise: “Cast
thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after
many days.” Their finding followed close upon the
casting ; they began at once to gather what they had scat-
tered. But let none be discouraged if the ‘‘many days”

elapse before returns come in:

“For blessings ever wait; on virtuous deeds,
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.”

The conversion of Mr. Mattison thus providentially

*
14 CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

incited, was eminently evangelical and thorough. It was
preceded by a conviction for sin even deeper than the
account just given would indicate, and by a longer and
severer struggle for relief. Describing the case, his sis-
ter Mrs. Morgan writes: “After great distress of mind for
many days—he found peace in believing.” His was “a
full cup” of repentance, and he drankit to the dregs.
He had views and realizations of sin which made it appear
* exceeding sinful.” A lively remembrance of his expe-
rience at this time attended him all through life, and gave
an unusually pronounced character to his theology touch-
ing human depravity or inbred sin. All attempts to tone
down this doctrine, found in him a vigilant critic and stout
opposer.

His conversion was a true counterpart of his awakening,
“The change was too perceptible to be mistaken,” is the lan-
guage of his sister. It was no superficial conversion,
but deep, radical, thorough. Itwas such a conversion as
reminds one of St. Paul’s. Would that all conversions
were of this type; but they are not. Some amount to
no more than conviction, or repentance, or baptism, or
uniting with the Church; but no one of these, or all of
them together, can make up a case of evangelical conversion,
Too often is “‘ the hurt of the daughter of my people healed
slightly,” and “ peace, peace,” is proclaimed “ when there is
no peace.” As a result, open backsliders are multiplied in
the land, and mere nominal professors everywhere cumber
CONVERSION AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 15

the Church. The experience of multitudes whom the
Church accepts as converted, falls painfully below the Scrip-
tural standard, a standard which Mr. Watson has correctly
and copiously set forth in his definition of the new birth or
regeneration: “It is that mighty change in man, wrought
by the Holy Spirit, by which the dominion which sin has
over him in his natural state—and which he deplores and
struggles against in his penitent state—is broken and abol-
ished, so that with full choice of will and the energy of
right affections, he serves God freely, and ‘runs in the
way of his commandments.’ ’’* There was a striking, we
had almost said, an intense conformity to this goodly stan-
dard in the experience of Mr. Mattison. No marvel then,
that he was wont to look upon his conversion, as the most
important event of his life, or that with both his tongue
and his pen, he was bold to magnify the doctrine of the
new birth to its true position in Bible divinity. He held,
what his experience taught him, that conversion as a fact
involves more than the mere germ of the Christian life ;
that the blade and the ear are essential elements of it;
and that the full corn in the ear is the result of subsequent
continuous growth.

His call to the ministry was not long delayed; indeed
almost simultaneously with his conversion, came the im-
pression that God had a special work for him to do. Fora

 

* Institutes, vol. ii, page 267.
16 CONAERSION AND CALL TO TIE MINISTRY.

time he sought to divert his mind from it, but without suc-
cess; and at length yielding to the importunity of the
Spirit, he surprised his friends by declaring his conviction
of duty, and his willingness to obey the divine requirement.
It seemed to them but little léss than presumption and
recklessness in Aim to enter upon such a course. With a
school education exceedingly limited, a wife and two chil-
dren to provide for, a certainty of hard work and poor.
pay, and a constitution ill adapted to the rough circuit life
of those times, the prospect of success seemed anything
but flattering. Yet the call was imperative, and he must
obey. He therefore set himiself resolutely at work to pre-
pare for the duties of his high calling, and in a few months.
was permitted by the authorities of the Church, to use his
talents as anexhorter. His efforts were successful beyond
expectation; indeed his first attempt at exhortation was
attended by remarkable results, three of his hearers being
awakened and afterward converted. This but confirmed
his persuasion thaf God had called him to the work of the
ministry, and with renewed diligence he devoted himself to
study and the other necessary preparations for the life of
a Methodist itinerant.
CHAPTER III.

EARLY ITINERANT EXPERIENCES,
hCG A Sy) os R. Mattison’s first field of itinerant labor
oS Il Vie Mo was Granby circuit, in Oswego County,

y 73 N.Y. He was employed here by Rev. N.
Salsbury, presiding elder of the District, to

 
     
  

 

4 fill a vacancy as junior preacher, Albert Sey-
mour being preacher in charge. This was in
Be 1835, the year following his conversion. In June
1836, he was admitted on trial in the Black River Confe-
rence, at the first session after it was set off from the
Oneida Conference, and appointed to Victory circuit, lying
mostly in Cayuga County. Those were the days of saddle-
bags and long rides, of “rude accomodations and small
allowances which in due proportion entered into the
early experiences of our young itinerant. With glowing
earnestness, and humorous good nature, have we heard
him recount the “ups and downs” of his life at that
. period. His appointments though not “few,” were “ far

”

between ;” and the places of worship occupied by him and

his congregations, were innocent of either “ outward.” or
18 EARLY ITINERANT EXPERIENCES.

“inward adorning.” Quarterage was by many, interpret-
ed to mean a quarter of a dollar for each quarter of the
year; but as even this small allowance permember might
minister ‘to the preacher’s vanity, a more rigid interpre-
tation was adopted by some, with whom “quarterago.”
meant a quarter of a dollar for the whole year.

But what were hardships like these toa.brave heart?
He had entered the work from an enthusiastic love of it,
no less than from a senso of stern duty. ‘ Onward, right
onward,” was his motto; and for two long, laborious years,
he occupied this, his first itinerant field in connection with
the Conference, “bating not a jot of heart or hope.”
One, who was well circumstanced to know, affirms that he
served the Church here “acceptably and with marked sue-
e088, “enduring all the privations of his situation with cheer-
fulness and hope;” and another equally well informed,
declares that his ministry here was “greatly blessed,” and
that “he witnessed a great ingathering of souls.” Noble
beginning in a noble work !

He was next appointed to Adams, Jefferson County, a
distance of nearly one hundred miles from Victory. Here
he found a small Church struggling to uphold itself amid
great discouragements. This gave him ample scope for
the exercise of his energy and self-sacrificing zeal; and
grandly did he use his opportunity. During the two years
of his ministry here—1838-9—revival succeeded revival,
and all the interests of the Church, financial, social, and
FARLY ITINERANT EXPERIENCES. 19

spiritual, advanced beyond the most sanguine expectation.
Never did toiling itinerant leave a charge, with his brow
more thickly wreathed with the laurels of success. But
to him it was a dear-bought success.
“ He jests at scars who never felt a wound;”

but our itinerant hero, in this early warfare for Christ and
his Church, had received wounds many and deep, the
scars of which he bore to an honored grave. Wearied
and worn by excessive labor, and with health greatly im-
paired, he was compelled at the eftsuing Conference, to ask
for a change of relation from effective to superannuated.

The necessity for this step was a trial of no small con-
cern; but this was only “the beginning of sorrows,” as the
reader will presently see. To seek rest, and once more
enjoy the rare luxury of a visit to his parents, he set out,
accompanied by his wife, for the old homestead, around
which clustered so many pleasant memories. It had long
been a welcome home to the weary itinerant; it wasdoubly
soto him. The presence in that familiar place of those
who under God. had given him his being, and whom he
loved almost as much as life, afforded him a joy which no
language can describe. Their words to him were as music,
their smilesassunbeams. Those were happy, thrice happy
days, which he spent under that parental roof. What a
relaxation from toil! What an unbending from care!

What a light and buoyant heart! And in all these en-
joyments his wife was a delighted sharer.
20 EARLY ITINERANT EXPERIENCES.

The scene changes—why not?
“We should suspect some danger nigh
Where we possess delight.”

Wo follow them as they break away from these loved asso-
ciations, and pursue their journey homeward. Having
been released by action of his Conferenve from the duties
of the pastorate, he must now provide for the settlement -
of his family, while he goes out in quest of health. With
this in view, they have started for their home at Adams.

The wife is seized with sudden sickness, and they are
obliged to halt on the way. Where shall they find a
resting place? God provides, and they are welcomed to
the home of an acquaintance and member of the Church.
The disease proved to be a malignant fever. For weary
days and nights, the husband and other attendants watch
beside her, awaiting in painful suspense the result. To
human view there seems many reasons why she'should not
die, but live. Her husband’s broken health, and the help-
lessness of four young children, unite in mute pleadings
to God to spare her life. But the disease proved fatal
the children were too young to realize their loss, but the
father and husband felt it in its full force. ‘All thy
waves and thy billows are gone over me,” was but a fitting
expression of his profound sorrow. As she was borne
away and committed to tlie grave, his heart was broken—
no, not broken, for he -heard.a voice saying unto him,
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” “Iam
EARLY ITINERANT EXPERIENCES. 21

the resurrection and the life” ‘ Even so also, them which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

But the end is not yet. He himself was prostrated by
the same disease, and for a time his recovery seemed
improbable—almost impossible. Here was trouble suc-
ceeding trouble. With a burning fever preying upon his
delicate frame, added to the sorrow of bereavement that
oppressed and well nigh crushed him, it seems little less
than miraculous that he survived, and at length regained
his wonted health.* He was now left with four small
children—the youngest a babe—whose helpless condition
made a most touching appeal to his parental heart; but
with the fortitude which the promise “Lo I am with you

* After writing the above, the following interesting statement
was furnished by John Iliff Esq., of Newton, N. J. On the last
night of 1840 a watch-meeting was held at the Mountain School
house near his residence. Mr. Mattison accompanied Mr. Iliff and
the Rev. Edward Sanders, preacher in charge of the circuit, to the
place of meeting. The house was full of people, but was very cold
and uncomfortable, so much so that a proposition was made to
leave without holding any services. Mr. Mattison, however felt
that he must say a few words, which he did by relating his expe-
rience. He told of his awakening by reading Pollok’s Course of
Time; of his subsequent conversion ; his call to the ministry, etc..
Then in touching and beautiful words he spoke of his late afflic-
tion. In one particular his statement differed from the acconnt
above given. He spoke of himself as being stricken down before
his wife’s death, and as being at that time so low that he knew
nothing of his loss or of the funeral except a concourse of people
at the house. When witha pathos peculiarly his own he exclaimed
“My Melinda is gone! but I am left!” the effect was overpowering,
and the congregation were eager to sit and listen longer forgetful
of all bodily discomfort. He accordingly took a text, Acts 17, 31,
and preached a sermon of rare eloqueuce and power on the gener-
aljudgment. It is known that three conversions at least resulted
from that memorable sermon.
22 EARLY ITINFRANT EXPERIENCES.

always,” inspired, he set himself about the delicate and
difficult task of providing for them a suitable home.
Having succeeded in this, a new trial ensues. His health
demanded a milder climate, and arrangements must be
made for a temporary residence and service in a more
southern latitude: but his motherless children can not go
with him; and to leave them behind involves the painful
uncertainty that he may never see them again.. In this
condition of anxious suspense we follow him in the next
chapter to new and untried scenes.
CHAPTER IV.

BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY.

  
  
    

: Se HE failure of Mr. Mattison’s health in the ‘
: oe pastoral work, involved no failure of his

A are ¥ 83 godly ambition, nor had his more recent
f>)\j// bereavement and dangerous illness dampen- |
2 ed in the least, the ardor of his desire for use-
fulness. With characteristic energy he sought
a7 and obtained an appointment as agent of the
American Bible Society for the State of New Jersey;
and, sorrow-stricken yet resolute, he gave a father’s bles-
sing to his little ones, and committing them to the care of
God and sympathizing friends, entered upon the duties of

his new position. Here as elsewhere, his remarkable ver-
satility of talent made him fully equal to the work assigned

    
  

him. His preaching awakened unusual interest wherever
he went, and his success in raising funds was in keeping
with his well-known financial tact. It was during the
years of this agency 1840-1 that the writer’s acquaintance
with him began, and that the foundation was laid of the
enduring friendship which afterward subsisted betweon
24 BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY.

him and many members of the New Jersey and Newark
Conferences. Not confining himself to the routine duties
of his agency, he performed no small amount of extra
work in protracted meetings, at camp-meetings, ete. Our
first recollections of him are associated with his preaching
in a revival at Vincentown, then a part of Medford circuit,
in the fall of 1841. That princely man of God, Rev. John
F. Crouch, was preacher in charge and the writer his col-
league. Mr Crouch, like Mr Mattison, was tall and slen-
der in person and of feeble health; nor were they greatly
unlike each other in their mental constitution. Both were
masters in the pulpit; and together they strove night after
night as intellectual and moral athletes, not against each
other, but in a noble competition for Christ and his cause.
The sermons preached by Mr. Mattison at that time made
a profound impression; and two of them, the one on “Jus-
tification by Faith,” from Acts xiii: 38, 89; the other on
“Being often Reproved,” from Proverbs xxix: 1, are
vividly remembered to this day.

But a short time prior to this, he had been called ina
very unexpected way, tobe a defender of the orthodox
faith against the onslaughts of Arianism. In pursuance of
his work as Bible agent, he was stopping at the house of.
a friend in Hunterdon County, not far from what was then
known as “ Mine Hole Church,” but which now bears the
more euphonic name of “Union.” His host having stated
to him thata stranger would preach in the church that
BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY. 25

evening, it was arranged that they should attend, which
they accordingly did. The stranger wasan Arian preacher,
who had made an appointment there with the hope of
supplanting orthodoxy by what he deemed a better faith.
The church belonged to a large circuit, the pastor living
remote from it and not being present at the meeting.
With great confidence and zeal, the strange preacher
declaimed against the doctrine of the Trinity, and with
rude hands disrobed the divine Saviour of his “eternal
power and Godhead.” He seemed to have every thing his
own way. However the congregation dissented from him
in thought, no one was prepared to take issue with him in
utterance.

He was master of the situation; and flushed with suc-
cess, he boldly challenged any one present to question his
theology. A profound silence ensued, and was broken
only by a repetition of the challenge in louder and fiercer
tones. Still no one responded. Could Hiram Mattison
sit there and not speak ? Could he see Jesus robbed of
his glory, and raise no hand to defend him? Could he
hear “the name high over all” reproached, and enter no
words of protest? He arose, and in his wonted calmness
and clearness of utterance, exposed the false teachings of
the Arian preacher who became more excited than ever,
and directed a personal challenge to Mr. Mattison for a
public discussion of the points at issue. The latter sought
to excuse himself by urging that he had been employed
26 BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY.

to do a specific work, and that he could not take from that
work the time which would be necessary to prepare for a
public debate. With an air and tone of triumph, the
advocate of the Arian faith replied, “That is always the
way; whenever we propose to meet the defenders of ortho-
doxy in a face-to-face discussion, they always find some
excuse to avoid it!’ ‘What less could Mr. Mattison do
than accept the vaunted challenge—and accept he did.
The points to be discussed ; the time and place of meeting;
and the other necessary details were soon arranged, and
the audience was dismissed. The day and hour fixed at
length arrived, and the disputants presented themselves in
presence of a large expectant congregation. Will the
delsate proceed? Whynot? Mr. Mattison is ready, and
his opponent ison hand. Butthe latter, contrary to an ex-
press provision in the agreement, proposed that a friend by

_ whom he was accompanied, should take his place in the
debate.

This of course could not be allowed; and Mr. Mattison
was obliged to occupy the whole time allotted for the dis-
cussion, which he did in a clear ‘convincing argument that
rang out over his enchained audience in tones of almost |
superhuman eloquence and power, and which sounded the
death-knell of Arianism in all that region. His discom-
fitted opponents lingered. in the congregation only to see
their boasted theology completely dissected, and « given to
be meat unto the fowls of heaven.” Never did moral hero
BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY. ‘27

achieve a sublimer victory. Nor has the fruit of it been
lost. A friend, whose personal knowledge of the case.
authorizes him to speak, assures us that ever since,
“Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and all other evan-
gelical Christians in the community, have united to bless
the name of Hiram Mattison, who, under God, became
their deliverer from a troublesome and dangerous heresy.”
The fruit appeared also in another form, and has given
nourishment and comfort to thousands remote from the
scene of conflict. The preparation for the public debate
contained the seed-thought which afterward grew into a
small volume, entitled, ‘A Scriptural Defense of the
Doctrine of the Trinity ’—a volume which has had a wide
circulation, and which is unsurpassed by any similar work
of the same compass, in the language.

In the course of his travels, Mr. Mattison visited the
southern counties of the State, where his preaching
attracted great crowds to the churches, and where his fer-
vid appeals in behalf of the Bible cause, drew from them
collections of surprisingly large amounts. All along the
sea-board he was hailed as a modern Apollos, “ an eloquent
man, and mighty in the Scriptures.” At camp-meetings
and in churches alike “the word of the Lord sounded
out”. from him in neither tame nor uncertain tones. A
friend, the Hon. David 8. Blackman of Unionville, Atlan-
tic County, writing of his Bible sermon at that place, says,
“T well remember the Doctor's text, Proverbs iii: 9,
28 BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY.

“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first
fruits of thine increase.” The sermon was excellent, and
made a fixed impression on many minds. I heard a neigh-
bour say yesterday, that he had not yet forgotten the text
and the chief points of the sermon, though an irreligious
man.” More than twenty-seven years have passed since
that sermon was preached by lips now sealed in death.
May its sublime truths still treasured in the memory, find
their way, though late, to the unsaved heart. and make it
“free.” |

There is one, now “well stricken in years,” who first
heard his voice at a eamp-meeting held during this year
at Tuckerton, Burlington County. She cannot read these
lines; she never saw his face; butthe very name of Hiram
Mattison, always kindlesin herheart the liveliest emotions
of gratitude, for it was from his lips that she received the
promise of her first volume of God’s word in raised letters,
a promise which was faithfully redeemed, through Bishop
Janes, afew months after. Who has not heard of blind
Mary Collins? During the session of the New Jersey
Conference at Camden, in the spring of 1842, she was one
day sitting in the left side gallery. As the business pro-
ceeded, she was a deeply interested listener, though all was
dark to her sightless eyeballs. Ata given signal she was
led below and presented before the Bishop, who, in words
of melting pathos and power, presented to her a copy of
the Psalms in raised letters, the generous gift of the
BIBLE AGENCY IN NEW JERSEY. 29

American Bible society. Excepting her conversion, that

was the happiest moment of her life. Overwhelmed with

gratitude, she took the precious gift, and pressing it to

her convulsed bosom, thanked God as she could never do

before, for his written word. Since then she has read

that volume again and again, and still it is her constant

companion :

* And all along her pilgrim way,”

the three earthly names most sacredly embalmed in her
, heart, are those of Hiram Mattison, Bishop Janes, and

American Bible Society.*

. * Dr. Mattison makes mention of her in his “Immortality of
the Soul,” page 211. but falls into an error in placing her conver-
sion at the age of torty. It occured in childhood. He is also
mistaken in saying that she had received her copy of the Psalms
previous to the summer of 1841. The writer was an eye witness
to its presentation in April 1842,

if
CHAPTER V.

RETURN TO THE PASTORATE.

HE restoration of Mr. Mattison’s health
having been largely accomplished, by

    

j his travels and labors in New Jersey, he
yj felt prepared at the Conference of 1842, to
take an appointment in the regular pastor-
ug) al work. He was accordingly stationed at
a ‘Watertown, one of the most important charges
in his Conference, and where his - works still praise him.
Willard Ives, Esq., writing from that place, says, ‘‘ Brother
Mattison spent two years of his ministry in this town,
drawing large congregations to listen to his fervid eloquence,
as the pure gospel truth fell from his lips.” And having
spoken of an extensive revival during his first year, he
continues: ‘As aresult of this outpouring of the Spirit,
nearly one hundred were added to the Church on trial.”

His diligence as a pastor, and his dignified urbanity in
social life, added to his superior pulpit talents, gave him a
commanding influence in the community such as it is the
privilege of but few pastors to acqtire in two brief years;
REIURN TO THE PASTORATE. 31

and to many who still survive him there, his “name is as
ointment poured forth.” But his experience during those
years was not unlike Paul’s when he said, “ A great door
and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many
adversaries.” Not only was he subjected to severe censure,
and even abuse, from some with whom he felt compelled
to differ touching the doctrine of “holiness” and the
best means of promoting it; but he was called by a stern
sense of duty, to stand up against what he considered the
semi-infidel practice then so rife among temperance lec-
turers and temperance societies, of ignoring “the gospel
the Church, and the ministry,” in their efforts to promote
the total abstinence cause. The “ Washingtonian ” move-
ment was at that time sweeping over the land with a
momentum which seemed likely to bear down all before it.
Giving large promise of usefulness to the temperance
cause at first, it soon ran into the wildest extravagances;
and instead of inviting the countenance and aid of the
Church, which alone can insure permanent success to any
moral reform, it assumed an attitude of open and active
hostility toward her. And this wasa true type of the
spiritof the times; various organized movements were set
on foot for the suppression of special prevailing evils, notonly
independent of the Church, but in defiance of all her claims.
This state of things was deeply deplored by thousands of
good and wise men, who saw in it an ill augury for the
future of the Church and the country. Among the num-
32 RETURN TO THE PASTORATE.

ber was Mr. Mattison, who, more courageous, perhaps
more venturesome, than most others, felt called upon
‘to use both the pulpit and the press, in defining the
true position of the Church, and defending her divine
claims to supremacy over all merely human organi-
zations. :

His sermons bearing upon this subject were point-
ed and ‘powerful, creating a wide-spread excitement,
and provoking no little criticism and opposition. But
‘this only quickened his zeal against the giant wrongs
which he encountered. Borne forward by that increas-
ing zeal, he insisted that the Church was a sufficient
temperance society, and that all outside organizations
were unneccessary, and therefore not to be encouraged.

Very naturally he was branded as an opposer of the
temperance cause itself, though the reader need not be
told, that both in theory and in practice he was a total
. abstinence man “of the straitest sect.” His views in
regard to temperance organizations distinct from the Church,
became somewhat modified in later years, though he
always held that they should be under Church influence
and control. He insisted that everywhore and always,
‘there should be a recognition of the gospel, the Church,
and the ministry, as the divinely appointed agencies of
human reform and salvation. This doctrine with its ad-
juncts, so effectively proclaimed from the pulpit, was embod-
ied in his short, pithy, “ Tracts for the Times,” the first issue
RETURN TO THE PASTORATE. 83

of which was given to the public during his second year at
Watertown.

While stationed here, his particular friend, Rev. Squire
Chase, returned from his missionary field in Africa to visit,
the Church at home, and after a few.months. leave again
for the scene of his- missionary labors. Having passed a
few days ‘with his family at Lowville, not many miles
distant from Watertown, he embraced an early opportunity
to grasp the hand of his esteemed brother and former
fellow-laborer, Mr. Mattison. One Sabbath morning just
after the hour of Church service, a stranger stood at the
door of the parsonage in Watertown. Mr. Mattison,
whose wife had never seen Mr. Chase, ‘had left a few
minutes before for the church. She answered the knock,
and saw from the stranger’s appearance that he was a
minister, but one whom she could not recognize as ever
having met before. His name however, had been a house-
hold word in the family, and the moment he announced it .
she felt that he was no longer a stranger, but an acquain-
tance and a friend for her husband’s sake.

Mr. Chase immediately left for the church, where he
was received with tokens of the utmost cordiality by the
delighted pastor and his congregation. Some years before
he himself had been the pastor there, and held-a large
place in the affections of the people, a fact which gave
special interest to his visit among them now asa returned
missionary. Their joy at seeing him was increased by
84 RETURN TO THE PASTORATE.

‘the sermon that followed, in which the tender memories
of the past were called up to mingle with the bright
realities of the present. Having preached, Mr. Chase
returned to the parsonage and dined. His enthusiasm
over Africa and its prospective evangelization, was
unbounded. All the glowing ardor of the immortal Cox
when he exclaimed, “Though a thousand fall, let Africa
be redeemed!” belonged to Mr. Chase. Out of the abun-
dance of his heart his mouth spoke. At the dinner table
Africa was the engrossing topic of conversation, in which
he importuned Mr. Mattison to accompany him on his
return to that dark land. Turning to Mrs. Mattison, he
asked, “Would you be willing to give him up?’ That
was a searching question, and one which she was ill pre-
pared to answer. She could only reply, “If he likes
Africa better than he does his wife and children, let him
go,” saying which she burst into tears. Kindly, but
earnestly, he said, ‘‘Don’t you suppose J love my wife and
children as well as your dear husband loves his? ButI
love the cause of Christ and of perishing Africa more.”
His ardent hopes, however, of returning and laboring
there were suddenly blasted. Not many weeks after this
interview, the session of his Annual Conference, (Black
River) was held at Syracuse. Mr. Chase being present
preached before the Conference on the subject of foreign
missions, and exhibited various idols brought by him from
Africa. The occasion was one of deep interest, and a
RETURN 10. THE PASTORATR. 35

profound impression was made by his earnest appeals in
behalf of the heathen.

But his work was. done, though only God knew it. A
eold contracted at that time, resulted in a fatal illness
which carried him speedily to his grave. - * + Soon after
the funeral, Mr. Mattison, by special request, preached in
his own church to a large and deeply affected congregation,
a memorial sermon, which was published in pamphlet form,
and had a very extensive sale. He could not have had a
more worthy subject; his subject could not have had a
more competent biographer.

Mr. Mattison having closed his pastorate at Watertown,
was next appointed to Rome, where he labored during
the years 1844-5. Here he wielded the same commanding
influence both in and out of the pulpit, that he had done
in his former charge. His “Tracts for the Times,” now
grew intoa small monthly sheet, which he at first called
The Conservative, and afterward the Primitive Christian, and
of which he was both editor and proprietor. Like the
tracts, it was plain, pointed, outspoken. It was intolerant
of wrong, in the Church or out of it. Yet its spirit was
always kind and Christian, like the man whose “image
and superscription it bore. As was quite natural, a
divided sentiment sprung up among his brethren touching
the propriety of its publication. Not a few of the wisest
and best men of the Conference gave it their approval
and influence. Among them was the venerable Rev. N.
36 RETURN TO THE PASTORATE.

Salsbury, whom Mr. Mattison used to call his spiritual
father and model preacher, and to whom he went frequently
foradvice. In a note to the author, Father Salsbury says,
“Twas in favor of the paper, and contributed some articles
for it.” But others vigorously opposed it, and carried their
opposition to the ensuing Conference held at Mexico, where
Mr. Mattison’s course was subjected to a thorough and
not very gentle review, in which Dr. T. E. Bond, then
editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, took a prominent
part. The excitement was intense ; and although the Con-
ference saw fit to discountenance the publication, it could
not but admire the noble manliness, pathos, and power of
his defense. He agreed to stop the paper at once, on con
dition of an assurance against pecuniary loss, which con-
dition was promptly met. The paper therefore ceased,
but its irrepressible. publisher, conscious of having aimed.
to “do nothing against the truth, but for the truth,” could
adopt the language of a wiser and greater hero of ancient
times: “‘ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed ;
perplexed but notin despair; persecuted but not forsaken;
cast down but not destroyed.” The chapters which follow,
will show how fully this apostolic experience was exempli-
fied in _his:subsequent career.
CHAPTER VL

FAINT, YET PURSUING.

HE Conference of 1846 found Mr. Mat-

tison once more a broken down man,

 
   
   

only in health, however, not in spirits.
yf Nor was it until the year 1852 that we find
him again in the pastoral work of the Church.
To one who consults only his Conference record,
most of these years must seem monotonous, even
useless years. But such was not the fact. He could not
be idle. To live, with him, was to be busy. Industry
was “part and parcel” of his being. In him was exem-
plified the lines of Ben Jonson :—

“Virtue, though chained to earth, will still live free,
And hell itself must yield to tudustry ;”
nor less what another poet has bluntly written:
“ Industrious wisdom often does prevent
What lazy folly thinks inevitable:
Big, swelling clouds are by the wind blown o’er,
And threatening clouds may dwindle to a shower.”

Foreseeing that he would be compelled to ask fora
change of relation at the Conference of 1846, Mr. Matti-
88 FAINT, YET PURSUING.

son removed his family, in advance of the session, from
Rome to Oswego. Here he was blessed with a comfortable
and pleasant home of his own, where for the next five
years his family remained withoutchange. Tomany men
in his situation, the handsome farm attached would have
offered a strong temptation to devote themselves to agricul-
ture; but his ambition ran in another direction. Not that
he despised manual labor, and least of all the primitive
occupation of cultivating the soil; but another line. of
duty better suited to his taste, had been providentially
marked out for him. '

During his second year at Rome, an Educational Con-
vention was held there, in the exercises of which he had
been invited to take a part. That part consisted of a
lecture on Astronomy, a favorite study with him, accom-
panied by rough diagrams prepared with his own hand
for the occasion. To say that the lecture was well received
would be to express far less than the whole truth; the
Convention was delighted with it, and the question passed
from mouth to mouth, “‘ Why should not one so familiar
with the science, and so well fitted to simplify the study
of it, prepare at oncea work for this purpose?” These
views were made known to Mr. Mattison and left a deep
impression upon his mind, which was as seed sown in
good ground. Without unnecessary delay, he provided
himself with materials and implements for map-drawing,
and entered upon his pleasing task. For the first few
FAINT, YET PURSUING. 39

weeks Professor Hatch was associated with him, but Mr
Mattison preferring to prosecute his work alone, the con-
nection between them was dissolved. The parlor of the
parsonage at Rome, was converted into a drawing-hall,
where day and night, a busy worker might be seen
planning and executing with all the glowing enthusiasm
of an amateur. His pastoral duties were still upon his
hands and so continued until the sitting of the Conference,
when his relation was- changed to superannuated. His
health was such as unfitted him for effective service in a
pastoral charge; but he was unwilling to be idle, and there--
fore resolved to employ his remaining powers, feeble as
they were, in popularizing that sublime science which had
come, by unsought influences, to engross so large a share
of his attention. Resuming this work after Conference

at his own home, he pursued it with unabated diligence

till he found it necessary to remove his quarters to New
York, in order to be near his publishers, Huntingdon and
Savage, and superintend in person the engraving, printing,
etc. Accordingly, he engaged a private room convenient
to the publishing house, and had it suitably furnished ;
and here, secluded from the bustling world around him,
he toiled on at ‘‘his loved employ.” For weary but san-
guine weeks and months that room was his only home,
except as he visited some restaurant near by for his daily
meals. Here he slept and worshipped; thought, and
sketched, and weote.
40 FAINT, YET PURSUING.

His family residence at Oswego had all the conveniences
and comforts of a real home, and in it there were hearts
that mourned over his long absence, and sighed for his
return; but the execution of his cherished plans, impera-
tively demanded an exchange of home associations and
endearments—and no man appreciated them more than
himself—for a hermit’s life in a great city. A hurried
visit at long intervals to his wife and children, summed
up the entire time that he could bestow on any other ob-
jects than “suns and systems.” At length the goal was
reached, and the grandest single achievement of his life
accomplished.

But his interest in the subject did not, cease with the
publication of his great work. To get it before the public,
and give it the widest possible circulation, he travelled
near and far, visiting the schools wherever he went, and
frequently lecturing. on the science, with the aid of his
beautiful Maps. Their very novelty, attracted no litte
attention, while their convenience and utility, in both
teaching and learning the science, won for them the favor
of all classes; A general demand for their sale ensued,
and Mr. Mattison ceasing to travel extensively, found him-
self sufficiently occupied at home in answering correspon-
dence, and filling orders from various parts of the country.

Was there not a special providence in his preservation»
under the constant, excessive drain upon his frail system,
in the preparation of the work, and afterward amid the
FAINT, YET PURSUING. 41

perils of his extensive travel? One remarkable instance
has come to our knowledge, and may here be noted. His
wife, on one of his visits home, had arranged to return
with him to New York, the day being fixed for their
departnre. On the previous evening, one of the sons who
had been absent ona visit, came home sick, too sick to
allow of their leaving at the time determined upon. Her
disappointment was hard to bear, but her husband consoled
her by saying, “Some good will come of it.” And so it
proved. The boat they would have taken at Albany for
New York, was the ill-fated Henry Clay, which was burned
on that very trip!

During these years of his superannuation, (he was
returned supernumerary in 1847,) he grew steadily in favor
with his brethren, who honored him with an election to
the General Conference of 1848, by a highly complimentary.
vote. This honor was repeated four, and also eight years
afterward. In 1850-1 he sustained an effective relation,
served as the secretary of his Conference, and held the
appointment of Professor of Astronomy and Natural Phi-
losophy in Falley Seminary. As Professor, it was required
of him to deliver a course of lectures each year on his
favorite science, which he did, to the admiration alike of
teachers and pupils. As an important aid to his instruc-
tions, he procured a large telescope from New York, which
was freely used by both himself and the students to their
great pleasure and profit. During this professorship, the
42 FAINT, YEL PURSUING.

Wesleyan University, at its commencement in June 1851,
conferred upon him the honorary diploma of Master of
Arts, signed by President Olin,—a degree which was
worthily received, and honorably borne.

One evening in the spring of 1852, while examining a
budget of letters just brought from the post-office, some

_thirty in number, he found one from Bishop Janes,
requesting him to fill the vacant pastorate of John-street
Church, New York. It was both a surprise and a joy.
His health though still feeble, was somewhat improved,
and his soul longed to be again in the work to which

_years before, the Holy Ghost had called him; yet, owing

_to the severity of the climate, he had scarcely dared to
indulge the hope of being able to resume that work within

the bounds of his own Conference. The letter of the
Bishop therefore, inviting him to New York, was exceed-

_ingly welcome both to himself and his family; and a few
weeks later found them snugly fixed in the parsonage of
the John-street church. The circumstances which had
led to Professor Mattison’s appointment there, were deeply
aflictive, and may be given in fow words: .

The lamented Reverend William K. Stopford, a talented
and useful member of the New York East Conference,
had been appointed, at its late session, as pastor of that
Church; but to the deep sorrow of his family, and the
expectant congregation, he died before reaching his post
of labor. This left a painful vacancy, which perhaps no
FAINT, YET PURSUING. 43

man could have better supplied than Professor Mattison.

A single fact during his connection with this Church,
may be mentioned as illustrating his tenacious devotion to
work, Captain Freeman, a generous member of the Church,
whose family residence a part of the year was in England,
repeatedly urged him to accept a passage in his fine
commodious vessel across the ocean, and entertainment at
his own home free of all expense to himself; but though
Mr. Mattison appreciated the kind offer, and earnestly
sought to avail himself of it, yet the time never camo
when he could yield the claims of work to those of recro-
ation, however much his health demanded it. In this he
not unlikely erred.

His pastoral life in New York, dating from the close of
his first year in John-street, is thus summed up by Rev.
G. L. Taylor: “ Atthe end of that year, on motion of Rev.
Heman Bangs, the New York East Conference voted a
request for Mr. Mattison’s transfer to its ranks, but he
declined to leave the Black River Conference, the home of
his youth, and the field of hisearly labors. But by Bishop
Waugh’s request, his Conference voted him permission to
supply John-street another year. At the close of this
service, he received urgent invitations to seven Churches
in New York and its vicinity, several of them among the
best charges. But he declined all these, and finally con-

- sented to serve a little colony then just -going out from
Thirtieth-street Church in the spring of 1854. Under
“44 FAINT, YET PURSUING.

his efficient management, this ‘ handful.of corn,’ grew into
Trinity Church, which was built and dedicated in 1855,
It is now one of our strongest Metropolitan Churches.”
OHAPTER VII.

A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL

 
    
   

iy on the reader go back with us to the

Rela year 1841, when Mr. Mattison was trav-

elling as Bible Agent in New Jersey.
In the preceding chapter we had left him a
lonely widower, with four motherless children
appealing to him for parental care. While en-
gaged in promoting the Bible cause, was it not
“meet and right” that he should look after the interests
of his own home, which but a year before had been made
suddenly desolate by death? St. Paul says, that “a
bishop (or elder) must be ... the husband of one wife,”
and afterwards adds, ‘Let the deacons be the husbands
of one wife;” directions which, while they restrain Chris-
tian ministers, in common with other men from having
more than one wife at a time, plainly authorize second
marriages in them as in others. In a quiet town of
Morris County, begirt with hills and built on either side
of a cheerful stream, Mr. Mattison formed the acquaint-
ance of her who afterward became his wife. She be-
46 A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL.

longed to a Methodist family of the olden type. Her
uncle and aunt, with whom she made her home, were
generous and hospitable, almost to a fault, and were
accustomed to give the preachers just such a welcome as
always made them feel at home. In addition to them-
selves and their niece, the household embraced a maiden
relative whom every one called “Aunt Barbara.” A more
happy family can hardly be imagined than this well-to-do
family of four. In those days many a young preacher—
for Dover was then a single man’s appointment—found
his boarding-place in this quiet home equal to the very’
best. The village -post-office was kept in the uncle’s
store, which, from this fact, added to the genial goodness
of its proprietor, was made a place of popular resort.
There day by day might be found a medium sized man
of rather sharp features and somewhat gray, with a fore-
head and hair reminding one of General Jackson, and
a countenance the very picture of kindness and good
nature. He lived in a plain substantial way, and enjoyed
beyond most men the esteem and confidence of his neigh-
bors. Such was the family in which the strange Bible
agent was passing a few days in pursuance of his appoint-
ed work. Having found in its youngest member a lady
well fitted, as he believed, to supply the place.of her
whom he had not ceased to mourn, but whom he could
never call back, he embraced an early opportunity of
avowing his desire to make her his wife. This avowal,
A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL 47

very naturally, was received at first with mingled surprise
and doubt. The responsible position into which she
would at once be thrust as step-mother to four young
children, no less than.the fact that he was almost a
total stranger, made the question of their marriage one
of unusual seriousness and importance. After a prayer-
ful consideration of the subject, however, the consent of
all concerned was obtained, and at the ‘appointed time,
June 2, 1841, Miss Elizabeth 8. Morrison, niece and
adopted daughter of David Sanford, Esq., became the
happy wife of Mr. Mattison.

Thirteen years have passed, of mingled joy and grief.
Meantime, the second of five sweet children added to
their household, has found an early grave. His mother
returning with him to Rome from a visit to her friends
at Dover, stopped in New York at the house of J. B.
Edwards, Esq., so long and favorably known in his
connection with the Methodist Book Concern, and whose
sudden death a few years since, was so widely lamented.
Here’the babe was taken sick and died. Two days after,
the stricken parents saw their little Manning, six months
old, buried in the lot of a friend near the city of Troy ;
and thence pursued their homeward journey saddened
by the thought of having left their precious treasure
behind them.

This incident is mentioned as preliminary to a more
extended account of a later and far sorer bereavement.
DAMAGED

BEST IMAGE
AVAILABLE
A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL. 49

were taken. She knew they were being taken to keep
after she was gone, and yet she was perfectly calm and
pleasant, and when they were taken, she told us who of
her friends must have them. -

From this time till she became insensible we talked
with her more or less.about death, and the world to come-
She kissed her parents and said, ‘Farewell, papa and
mama. ‘Give my love to Frances, Sarah, and Willie.’
(Those were her sisters and brother.) ‘Give. my love to
Grandpa Sanford, and tell Jane’ good-by, from me.’

Her uncle coming in, she said, ‘Uncle Truman, I hope
to meet you in heaven.’ Her little brother coming to her
bedside, she asked him, if he said his prayers every day.
He told her he did. She then said, ‘Be a good hoy,
say your prayers every day, and never tell any stories.’

Her mother said to her, ‘Poor Tibby; you are going
to leave us are you?’

‘O mama,’ said she, ‘I shall be a great deal better
off.’

I showed her her pocket Bible, and said, ‘Tibby , here
is your dear Bible you love so well.’

‘Yes,’ said she, ‘read some in it, papa.’

I turned to Rev. xxi, 4, and read: ‘And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall

 

* Jane was « faithful servant girl who had long resided in the
family.
48 A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL.

Their first-born was a bright litile girl, with dark eyes,
and auburn hair hanging in ringlets about her face
and neck. Her friends usually called her “Tibby,” her
real name being Lydia Elizabeth.

That one so fair and promising should fall a victim to
disease after only twelve brief summers, was but another
proof that

« “Death loves a shining mark.”

The story of her last sickness can best be told by
her own father who kept a journal of her sayings, and
afterward published it in a a volume.* He
says:

3 ete

“The winter before.he ath, Tibby yedded-in New-
York with her feat Ane ae Ete had ) the scarlet
fever, which: left her quite pe and. ip-tie spring she

was taken to her former shee... mear cee in hope that
it might be beneficial to her health. Fora time she seemed
to improve; but about the first of July she began to be
worse, and continued to decline till the time of her death.

Though only twelve years old, Tibby was a sincere
Christian. When she came to die, therefore, she was
prepared to. go, and died very happy. I will give you an
account of her last hours.

When it became evident to her friends that she must
die, an artist was obtained, and five daguerrotypes of her

 

* “The Early Dead,” vol. iv, published at the Methodist Book
Concern.
A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL. 49

were taken. She knew they were being taken to keep
after she was gone, and yet she was perfectly calm and
pleasant, and when they were taken, she told us who of
her friends must have them. -

From this time till she became insensible we talked
with her more or less.about death, and the world to come-
She. kissed her parents and said, ‘Farewell, papa and
mama. ‘Give my love to Frances, Sarah, and Wiillie.’-
(Those were her sisters and brother.) ‘Give my love to
Grandpa Sanford, and tell Jane’ good-by, from me.’

Her uncle coming in, she said, ‘Uncle Truman, I hope
to meet you in heaven.’ Her little brother coming to her
bedside, she asked him, if he said his prayers every day.
He told her he did. She then said, ‘Be a good hoy,
say your prayers every day, and never tell any stories.’

Her mother said to her, ‘Poor Tibby; you are going
to leave us are you?’

‘O mama,’ said she, ‘I shall be a great deal better
off.’

I showed her her pocket Bible, and said, ‘Tibby, here
is your dear Bible you love so well.’

‘Yes,’ said she, ‘read some in it, papa.’

I turned to Rev. xxi, 4, and read: ‘And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall

 

* Jane was « faithful servant girl who had long resided in the
family. :
50 & MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL.’

there be any more pain, for the former things aro passed
away.’

She seemed delighted; and immediately asked,
‘ Where is Frances ?? When told that she was in New-
York, she said, ‘ Tell her to read the Bible and ¢rust in 7.
When she is sick 7 will ease her pain. It will help her to
give up. Sho will have a great deal of pain, and be
almost discouraged, but she must heep her trust.’

Her mother said, ‘ You are very happy, Tibby.’

‘Yes,’ said she, ‘lamhappy to think I am going to
a better world. ’

Observing her watching me as I noted down her re-
marks, I said, ‘Tibby, I am taking down what you say,
so that I can read it when you are gone.’

‘Papa,’ said she, ‘you must not weep for me, when
I am gone.’

I asked why not.

‘¢ Because I am going to a better world.’

I said, ‘Tibby, you have never seen my Sunday
School where 1 now am,* have you anything to say
to the children?’ She mildly answered, ‘ No,’ ‘but
in a moment added: ‘only tell them, when they die to
trust in Jesus.’

Observing many weeping, she said:

‘Don’t cry. I don’t feel so willing to die when you

 

* The writer was at that time pastor of Trinity M.&: Church,
New-York.
A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL. 51

feel so bad. It seems as if -you were afraid it would not
be well with me after death. ’

She then requested me to sing. I told her I felt too
bad too sing; but ina few moments asked her what I
Bhould sing. She answered :—~

‘O sing to me of heaven,
When I am oall’d to die.’

We were all deeply affected, but in a short time I be-
‘gan to sing. She at once struck in and sung with won-
-derful animation, and continued on from verse to verse
‘through the whole hymn.

After a brief pause she said,

‘ Weep not for me, my friends below,
I'm going home to heaven.’

She still entreated us not to weep, and after sending a
message to her Sabbath school, ‘to be good, and keep

the Sabbath holy, and trust in Jesus, ’ she exclaimed,

*I’m bound for the land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign. ’

Her uncle now spoke to her. She said, ‘I know who
it is, but I can’t see.’ She wished us to sing the ‘ Star of
Bethlehem,’ and she sung the whole with us, repeating

the last verse, commencing,
‘It was my light, my guide, my all. &c.’

She several times said, ‘Good by,’ and ‘Farewell,’
and sent messages to friends in New-York and elsewhere.
Among the rest she said, ‘Tell Herschel and Sarah,*
where I’m gone. I’m going to heaven.’

 

* A younger brother and sister.
“52 A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL.

‘She continued in this delightful frame of mind, singing
and talking of the ‘happy land’ as long as she could
‘speak; till finally her gentle spirit was released from its
earthly sufferings, and entered into rest.”

The funeral presented a scene never to be forgotten.
The large numbers in attendance; the deep prevailing
solemnity; the many moistened eyes and the low sup-
pressed sobs of grief from young and old—these were
more eloquent than the most glowing words, in praise
of the childish innocence and loveliness of her whose
“human face divine” they were then looking upon for
the last time. One sad heart was not there; but as the
vast procession moved slowly along from the house of
‘Tibby’s uncle where she died, to the cemetery where she
was so soon to be buried, there was seen sitting in the
door of the “old homestead,” a manly form, bowed down
from recent illness, watching with throbbing grief and
tear-dimmed eyes the little coffin “borne by four,” in
which were held the marble lips that used to pronounce
“ Grand pa,” in accents of peculiar sweetness and affection.

At the grave, the choir of the Church where Tibby in
earlier years attended worship and Sabbath-school, sung
the favorite hymn which had given her so much comfort
in her last hours, “O sing to me of heaven.” The wish

expressed i in the closing verse was now fulfilled :
“Then round my senseless clay
Assemble those I love,
And sing of heaven, delightful heaven,
My glorious home above.”
A MARRIAGE AND A FUNERAL. 53°

She did not hve for nought. Though dying thus early
she had accomplished a sublime mission in her father’s
behalf. Her clear conversion, ther intelligent faith, her
joy in sickness, and her triumph in death, fully convinced
him of that concerning which he had been skeptical, or
at least, like too many others, indifferent, namely, child-
hood conversion, a doctrine in which, ever after, he was
a firm believer, and of which he became a zealous and
successful advocate.
CHAPTER VIII.

CLOUDY DAYS.

   
 
    

 

. es R. MATTISON having been honored for
Re the third time by his Conference with
<2 a an election as delegate to the General
ah Conference, we find him in May, 1856, an
active and influential member of that body:
#| The proposition to make non-slave-holding a con-
“ condition of membership had long agitated the
Church, and the number of those who favored it had
been constantly increasing. Not the least among these
was Mr, Mattison. As might have been expected, there-
fore, the General Conference witnessed in him a gigantic
opposer of slavery in the Church, and an earnest advocate
of the proposed change. Boldly joining hands with the
most radical anti-slavery men of the Church, he stood
ready todo and dare and suffer for the right. Together
they strove for the mastery, but they were not crowned
though they strove lawfully; the giant wrong against
which they contended had too deeply intrenched itself, if
not in the faith, yet in the fears of the Church, north as
OLOUDY DAYS. 55

well as south. The conservative element in the General
Conference prevailed, and the friends of progress retired
from the struggle less sanguine, it may be, but more
determined than before. That Mr. Mattison was hopeful
of receiving honors from that Conference need not here
be questioned, and that he returned disappointed was no
proof of either an uncommon weakness or a false am-
bition. He knew full well his competency to fill the
position for which his friends had named him, and was
strong in the conviction, that the times demanded his ser-
vices where the official sanction of the highest body
known to the Church, would give increased power to his
tongue and his pen in contending for the right. Who
shall say that either his aspirations or his convictions
‘were unworthy of a great and good man?

He now resumed the pastoral work within the bounds
of his own Conference, and was stationed successively at
Adams and Syracuse, appointments among the very best
in the Conference. In both of them, he was not only
popular as a preacher, but successful as a pastor. At the
same time he’ served as assistant editor of the Northern
_ Independent, his influence and writings being of great ser-
vice to the paper, and contributing very much to the suc-
cess which attended it from the beginning. Whether this
may be said to his praise or his censure, depends very
much upon each one’s standpoint of observation. In gen-
eral, the publication of independent sheets for the denun-
56 CLOUDY DAYS.

ciation of specific evils, or the advocacy of proposed
changes in the Church, is not to be commended; its ten-
dency is to unsettle and disorganize. . If one party resorts
to it, another is likely to do the same, and in this way,.
the recognized official periodicals of the Church may be
greatly crippled in circulation and in usefulness. The
Northern Independent in 1856, was naturally enough followed’
by The Methodist but four years after, the exciting causes
of their publication being almost wholly identical, though’
the interests which they were intended to represent, were
“widely different.

During the four years spoken of, the anti-slavery element
of the Church had gathered sufficient strength to turn the
tables in 1856, at least so far as General Conference
officers were concerned. The chief editorial chairs were
accordingly filled by men representing,that element. The
offense thus given to the conservatives, soon found expres-
sion in the paper referred to, the aim of which was to
countervail northern radicalism, and if possible, save the
border. Its career, however, as an organ of conservatism
was exceedingly brief, the war of 1861 converting it into
a sheet as thoroughly radical as its competitors. Mean-
while, the causes which gave birth to the*Worthern Inde-
pendent still existed; the old rule on Slavery was retained
in the Discipline, and no material advance had been made
in thelegislation of the Church on thatsubject. In 1859, .
Mr. Mattison, in addition. to his pastoral and editorial
CLOUDY DAYS. 57

labors, wrote and published his ‘Impending Crisis,” a
large pamphlet of extraordinary boldness and power.
While not entirely faultless, perhaps, it dealt in the logic
of facts ivith such telling force, that few could gainsay,
and none refute. Yet it provoked criticism and condem-
nation, from not only his known opponents, but from some
of his professed friends. During the same year, he corres-
ponded extensively with the Methodists of England, Ire-
land, Scotland, and Wales, and obtained from them the
names of some eighty-five thousand petitioners to the
General Conference, praying that body to extirpate slavery
from the M. E. Church. The forty-five thousand names
collected from Central New York for the same ‘purpose,
were also largely dué to his efforts. AJl his energies were
bent to the achievement of this one result.

Whatever his prolific mind, and powerful voice, and
vigorous pen, could do to promote it, was done. That his
brethren whose convictions on the main question were.
like his own, did not always go with him in effort, arose
in some cases, simply from the fact that he was in advance
of his times, and in others, from jealousy of his leadership.
The Rey: W. Hosmer, whose emphatic testimony to his
worth we shall have frequent occasion to quote, writes
thus of the matter in hand: “(He was a host in his own
Conference, and no man among all its distinguished men,
was ever more popular, or more deservedly so; though
like other popular and positive men, he was not without
58 CTOUDY Days.

his enemies. There were alwayssome who suspected him
of revolutionary designs, and never ceased from active
opposition to whatever he proposed; but he usually carried
his measures in defiance of this jealousclass. It made no
difference what he proposed, or what he did, he was sure
to be misunderstood, and viewed with an evil eye by those
who should have encouraged him, and whose confidence
he always deserved. The factis, he was above and beyond
them, and though not intentionally malignant, they thought
it doing God service, to hedge up his way in all things to
the best of their ability.” This will sufficiently explain
his failure of an election to the General Conference of
1860. But “although not a member of this Conference
as he had been of the two preceding ones, few men on its
floor were more felt than he. His two mammoth petitions
from the anti-slavery Methodists of Central New York, and
of England, carrying the moral pressure of more than a
hundred thousand names, praying for the abolition of
slaveholding in the M. E. Church, fell like an avalanche

upon the apologists of that long-lived curse among us.”*
With what deep and throbbing interest, did he watch the
proceedings of that august body! But the Conference
came and went, without realiziug to him his cherished
hopes; the old rule was left intact, though the chapter on
slavery was essentially modified. - + + °

 

* Rev. G.L. Taylor.
~

CLOUDY DAYS. 59

We now approach a painful crisis in his life, painful
alike to himself and his friends—his withdrawal from the
Methodist Episcopal Church. This was preceded by his
removal to New York, a locality which he had proved by
several years experience to be far more congenial to his
health than the more northern climate of his own Confe-
rence. Here, for reasons which will presently appear, he
devoted himself to the organization and building up of a
Church on an independent basis.* His success in this
difficult undertaking was such as few men could achieve,
and as none ought to attempt. The chief reasons for
this course, and the step which followed, shall be stated
by his intimate friend already quoted: ‘This oppo-
sition,” (referred to in the previous extract,) kept him in
the effective ranks in the Black River Conference at the
hazard of his life, when he desired to reside on the sea-
board, where alone he could enjoy health. How he
struggled for this privilege, and how long it was denied
him, will be remembered by some who would gladly recall
their acts if it were possible. It was this climatic and
physical necessity imposed upon him by the state of hig
health, that induced the step which he finally took, that of

 

* Dr. Mattison has we find left on record the following statement;
“The hall in which I began the services in the city at the first
was hired without my knowledge or consent, and against my sober
, judgment and decision; but having been leased for three years by
some of the best friends I ever had on earth, I was induced, though
unwillingly, to comply with their wishes and preach for them.
But the idea of founding a sect was not in all my thoughts,”

1
60 CLOUDY DAYS.

leaving the Church. Other things had their influence,
but this was the most commanding. He would have
remained in New York asa minister of the M. E. Church,
if he had felt that he could do so with the approbation of
his own Conference, and without molestation from the
Church authorities in the city. His whole soul was occu-
pied with reform, and he saw that there was no alternative

but to stand up alone in the strength God had given,
doing what was possible with the powers that yet remained,
and not allowing either his life to be imperilled or his
usefulness to be impaired by his opponents. Hence his
withdrawal, in which. he sought to be, not less, but more
a Methodist.”

Between this and Dr. Mattison’s own statement of the
case, there is an apparent conflict. Writing of the issues
on account of which he withdrew he says: “First and
most important of all these issues, was that of slave-holding
by. Church members. In fact, this was the only issue that
involved my conscience; and but for this I should never
have withdrawn from the Church.” No doubt this was
strictly true; yet it was probably not less true, that the
personal considerations ‘stated by Mr. Hosmer, gave a
poignancy to his conscientious convictions which forbade
his longer continuance in the Church. In the absence of
these personal considerations, he might have satisfied his
conscience by laboring on hopefully asaforetime; but when
by the events described, ho saw his last lingering hope of
CLOUDY DAYS. 61

success blasted,* he felt that only the one course of with-
drawing from the Church was left to him: Did he in
taking this step act ‘wisely? is a question both natural
and proper; but without presuming to answer it directly,
we cannot do otherwise than condemn his course as a
precedent for others. In saying this, however, we do not,
dare not doubt that he acted the part of an honest man;
but what he might do in this respect with comparatively
small loss, thousands of other men, equally honest, could
not do without utter disaster. Those were forcible words
spoken by Dr. Wiley at the memorial service of the
Newark Conference, held March 22, 1869, when he repre-
sented Dr. Mattison as “a giant walking with a giant’s
tread, and therefore not to be guaged in his movements by
those of ordinary men ;” and for this very reason, ordinary
men have need to beware how they attempt to walk in his
footsteps. It was about this time, we believe, that Mr.
Mattison received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from
Adrian College, Michigan, a title which he honored not
less than he was honored by it.

The erection’ of the fine ‘St John’s Independent Metho-
dist Church,” was a new proof of his energy and skill,
while the manner in which he sustained it for several
laborious and discouraging years, reflected great credit

 

* On this point he writes: “So far as I was able to discover,
there was no prospect of her purification.” And again: “T lost
my seat in that General Conference, (1860), and failed of my object,
and failing saw no ground of hope for the future.”
62 CLOUDY DAYS.

upon his talents, piety, and zeal. During those years it
stood as no uncertain oracle of “sound doctrine” and
human rights, giving forth its utterances with unmistak-
able distinctness and heroic courage. No ‘new divinity ”
under whatever guise, no human injustice in whatever
formy found “aid and comfort” there, but only discoun-
tenance and rebuke. The character of both the church
and its pastor, was well understood by the bloody rioters
of July, 1863, who denounced and threatened the one as
an “abolition church,” and savagely declared of the
other, “We'll walk through his blood!” Not anticipating
such a state of things, he had left the city two weeks
before for a brief stay at Booneville, New York, hoping
thereby to benefit his enfeebled health.

Had he been at home on those bloody days, the mad-
dened rioters, who ransacked his house in search of him,
would not unlikely have executed their threats against
his life. But that God who once said, ‘“‘ Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm,” had appointed
him to a safe distance from the tide of seething human
passions which desolated that hapless city. The period
extending from the spring of 1856, to November Ist, 1861,
the date of his formal withdrawal from the Church, and
thence to the autumn of 1865, may be fitly denominated
the cloudy days of his ministerial life. But they were
not destined always to last; hence the subject of our next

chapter.
CHAPTER IX.

RETURNING SUNSHINE.

“ Now !et us thank the Eternal Power, convinced
‘That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,
That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour .
Serves but to brighten all our future days.”

HEN Dr. Mattison severed his connection
; with the Church of his first love he
doubtless intended it to be a life-long
4, Separation, but happily, for both himself and
the Church, after a voluntary exile of four
toilsome years, he returned, to live a little
longer and then die, in her fellowship, As he
had published his reasons for leaving, so he deemed it

  
 

fitting to make known, in like manner, his reasons for
returning. These were given in two characteristic letters
to The Christian Advocate. Without reproducing them
entire we present an extract from each, as indicating
their general style and spirit. In the first he says:

“JT labored long and hard to induce the General Con-
ference of 1860, to take decisive action against all
Church slaveholding. . . - © © © «© © © © @
. O4 RETURNING SUNSHINE,

But the war came on, slavery died the death, and ina
Church took in 1864 the action I wished her to take
in 1860. Had she taken decisive action then we should
now have pointed to it with pride; but she still chose
to spare the deadly upas tree, till federal bayonets and
artillery, and above all the executive thunderbolt of
January 1, 1863, rove it to atoms; and now, whether of
free will or of irresistible grace, the M. E. Church is both
by law and practice an anti-slavery or, if you please, an
“abolition” Church. And inasmuch as she has at length
freed herself, or been freed by Providence, from the very
elements which, more than all else, drove me from her
pale, if my chief complaint was, as I professed, that she
kept slaveholders in her communion, and such are now
forever excluded, why should I not return?”

This. portion of Dr. Mattison’s first letter called forth a
very frank comment from Dr. Curry, the editor, question-
ing the consistency of his course in leaving the Church,
but giving him a warm welcome back. The closing por-
tion of the second letter contains a passage of great ten-
derness and beauty :.

“Such are my reasons for returning to the home of my
early choiee. I have traveled her circuits, circulated her
literature, helped to build and dedicate her churches, de-
fended her doctrines and economy, and shared her-re-
proaches and triumphs ; and I love her as I can never
love any « other ‘Church, And though the vigor of early
RETURNING SUNSHINE. 65

manhood with me is gone, and I may be of little use to
the M. E. Church, she can be of great use to me, and I
wish to die within her bosom. I thought I was doing
right when I withdrew, and I am as conscientous now in
returning; and I trust God in his mercy will forgive
whatever he sees to haye been wrong in the past, or to
be wrong in my present motives or actions.” =

Some of the preliminaries to his return may be of in-
terest to the reader. The following letter will show the
workings of his mind upon the subject and the conclu-
sion to which he had been led:

: New York, August 9th, 1865.
Rev. N. Vansant,
Dear Broruer :
At the suggestion of a member of the New

York Conference, I write you as an old friend, to say,
that it is my purpose to return to the M. E. Church as
soon as it can be brought about. I have a letter of cor-
dial welcome from Bishop Simpson, and Drs. Whedon,
Curry, Stevens, Crooks, and indeed all the New York
East brethren seem equally cordial. I hope to bring my
people and church edifice with me, but of this there is
much doubt, as some dislike my leaving, and talk of
getting another preacher, and going on as an independ-
ent Methodist Church still.

I am settled here till May 1st, if I am disposed to stay;
but ag I have determined to leave and go back to the
66 RETURNING SUNSHINE.

old Church, the sooner I can do so the better I think it
will be for me. I write therefore to inform you of my
purpose, and to say that should you have a feasible open-
ing on your District, I would probably enter it till May
Ist, or thereabouts.

In such an event I would unite with some local Church,
I think, (and especially, if necessary to do so,) be recog-
nized as a Local Preacher, and be put regularly in

charge.
Your Friend and Fellow-Laborer.
H. MATTISON.

About this time the Rev. 8. Y. Monroe pastor of Trin-
ity Church, Jersey City, was elected secretary of the
Church Extension Society, then recently organized, and
was expected to enter upon his work as soon as practica-
ble. The officers of the church having been informed of
Dr. Mattison’s intentions proceeded at once to confer with
him in reference to the vacant pastorate, and invited him,
subject to the approval of the church authorities, to fill it.
The Presiding Elder being engaged on a remote part of
the District, the following communication was address-
ed to him by David Taylor Esq., one of the chief laymen

of the Church:
Jersry City, Aug. 24, ’65.

Reverend anp Dear Borger:

Trinity M. E. Church has by a unanimous
vote chosen Mr. Mattison, of New York, to fill our pulpit
RETURNING SUNSHINE. 8

till spring. We have talked with Bishop Janes, and ho
leaves it with the Presiding Elder. :

Mr. Monroe and family are gone and we are without a
preacher. We are anxious to see or hear from you.
Please let us see you here or hear from you at your
earliest convenience. Written on behalf of the com-

mittee.
Yours in the bonds of Christian love,

DAVID TAYLOR,

Having responded in person to this request, we after-
ward sought an interview with Bishop Janes, but failing
to see him opened a correspondence with Dr. Mattison,
stating the Disciplinary conditions on which he could be
admitted among us, and designating the Quarterly Con-
ferences soon to be held, before one of which his case
might be brought. The time fixed upon came, and after
a thoughtful consideration of the subject he was admitted
and recognized as a local preacher, by’ the Palisades
Quarterly Conference, Jersey City District, in August,
1865. We all felt that in the man who sat before us and
whom we frankly examined as required by the Discipline,
there was a beautiful union of greatness and humility,
the courage and strength of the lion blending with the
gentleness and simplicity of the lamb. And now after
the lapse of years as our thoughts turn back to that occa-
sion, a peculiar interest of n:ingled melancholy and joy
gathers around it, as we remember the touching coinci-
68 RETURNING SUNSHINE.

dence that Dr. Mattison’s welcome back to his old
Church-home, took place when he was on his way to the
old family homestead to visit his aged venerable mother
in her last sickness. That mother had long and anxiously
sighed for the return of her first-born. ‘I do not wish”
‘said she, “to lay my gray head in the grave until Hiram
comes back to the old Church.” That wish awakened a
tender echo in the heart of the son, and now almost in the
game act, he throws himself into the arms of the Church
and hastens to whisper the intelligence to that dear mother
whose dying blessing seems waiting his return.

Dr. Mattison being thus placed in our hands was at
once employed as pastor of the Trinity Church. His re-
ception by the people was sincere and cordial. "Within a
few months they had been bereft of two beloved pastors,
Drs. Wiley and Monroe, by their appointment to other
fields of labor. To part with them after but little more
than a year’s service from each, .was felt to be a sore
affliction, and they considered themselves especially favor-
ed in securing one so able as Dr. Mattison to occupy the
place which had been filled by them with so much dis-
tinction. :

The new pastor was even more happy if possible, than
the people. He had left very dear friends behind him,
but this loss was more than compensated by the warm
greetings which everywhere met him in his new home.
Rather we ought to say his o/d home, for such he felt it to
REIURNING SUNSILINE. 69

be, not indeed as to locality and persons, but emphatically
80 as to ecclesiastical relations.

His whole expression and bearing were those of une
who had just been welcomed to the family hearth after a
long absence. The clouds had given place to sunshine
which seemed all the more effulgent because of the vapors
that had dimmed it. Indeed, as the old poet, quoted at
the head of this chapter, had written a hundred years
before, those very clouds “served but to brighten all
his future days.” The joy of his restored fellowship con
tinued without abatement or interruption till the earthly
brightness was ldst in the “eternal sunshine” of heaven.

“Will he be received by the Annual Conference ?”
was a question often proposed and discussed during his
first six months’ pastorate at Trinity Church. As yet he
was but a local preacher employed by the Presiding
Elder to fill a vacancy. The Annual Conference alone
could fully restore him to the position he occupied before
his withdrawal. How will that body be disposed toward
him? That some should criticise and object, was not to
be wondered at; that some should even censure those
who had encouraged his return was perhaps to be looked
for. Of course the writer, in view of his direct official
connection with the case, came in for a full share of such
censure. Having on one occasion stated all the facts to a
member of the Conference we concluded by asking:
“ What would you have done under such circumstances?”
70 RETURNING SUNSIIINE.

“I would have had nothing to do with it—would not have
touched it,” was the half pettish reply. In less than
eighteen months that man had fallen into crime, and
withdrew from the Church in disgrace. But there were
members of the Conference as pure and good as the best
of their brethren, who did not see their way clear to vote
for his admission. As the time for the annual session
approached this feeling gradually yielded to the eclat—for
it amounted to that—with which Dr. Mattison was almost
everywhere received by both the ministry and the laity;
yet down to the very hour when the Conference was
called upon to take action, there were remains of hon-
est apposition, not to the man himself, but to his admis-
sion into the Conference. “Are you young men going to
vote for Dr. Mattison,” was the earnest inquiry of one of
the older ministers to a younger member of the body.
“Of course we are,” was the frank reply, and a colloquy
of some length ensued in which the venerable catechist
sought to convince the young man that both his own
interest and strict justice.to the candidate demanded a
negative vote. Bishop Baker, the President of the Con-
ference, had decided that Dr. Mattison could be admitted
only on trial and not into full connection. A year later
he would have decided otherwise, his colleagues and him-
self agreeing within the year that_in all such cases the
candidate might be restored at once to the full honors
of the Conference. The question of Dr. Mattison’s
RETURNING SUNSHINE. 71

admission was disposed of in the following manner: the
recommendation of the Quarterly Conference having been
read, his Presiding Elder, after representing him accord-
ing to custom, offered a motion that as the case was a
peculiar one the candidate be allowed to make a brief
statement in person to the Conference. We knew that
this motive if once adopted would make the final result
no longer doubtful. Of course it called out debate, it
being urged by the opposition that such a proceeding was
wholly without precedent, and that no candidate could
justly claim it. To this it was a sufficient reply, that the
motion was not made at Dr. Mattison’s instance; that he
had spent the best years of his ministry in the Methodist
Episcopal Church ; that both his age, and his position in
the literary and Christian world, appealed to us to grant
the privilege asked for; and finally that it was not claim-
ed as aright, but requested as a courtesy. The question
was put and the motion prevailed by an almost unani-
mous vote. Dr. Mattison, who had been absent during
the brief discussion, came forward, and with that modest
freedom and self-reliance which so peculiarly distinguish-
ed him, addressed his brethren. His words were few and
well chosen, yet manifestly unstudied and spontaneous.
There was in them a transparent frankness that disarmed
all opposition; a touching pathos that moved all hearts;
and an unaffected manliness that challenged the respect
of young and old alike.
72 RETURNING SUNSHINE.

The question was settled while yet the words were
dropping from his lips; and when he retired, the impa-
tient Conference with a hundred upraised hands bade
him welcome, thrice welcome, to its ranks. :

An incident connected with the recognition of his orders
may not be unworthy of notice. He had left his ordina-
tion parchments at home, and although the Conference was
fully satisfied of his having been ordained according to
the usage of the Church, yet no direct evidence of the fact,
documentary or otherwise, seemed to be at hand. The
venerable Dr. George Peck of the Wyoming Conference,
whose visits among us are always welcome, sat in the
altar, and, observing the momentary embarrassment,
arose and stated that he was an eye-witness to his ordina-
tion as an elder, and, if we remember rightly assisted in
the laying on of hands, giving the time and place, with
the name of the Bishop who led the service.

Tho ordination of elders on the Sabbath was ren-
dered doubly interesting by the tall figure of Dr. Mattison
among the candidates, the law of the Church requiring a
renewal of his ordination vows without the re-imposition
of hands. In clear distinct tones he took upon him again
the vows of his holy office, and then kneeling as he had
knelt twenty-six years before, remained in meditation and
and silent prayer, while the hands of the Bishop and
senior elders were laid upon those on either side of him.
Referring to this occasion afterward, he said, “I felt it to
RETURNING SUNSHINE. 73

be a privilege to renew my ordination vows; I believe it
will do me good.”

One year from that time, all restriction having mean-
while been taken from his and all similar cases, he was
received, into full connection, and stood once more where
he had stood previous to November 1, 1861, enjoying all
the rights and privileges of his Annual Conference. But
he was now a wiser and a happier man, more loyal to the
Church in all her existing institutions, fully satisfied with
independency as a failure, and enjoying, without envy or
prejudice, the full confidence and affection of his brethren.
Under the circumstances he felt all that the Psalmist had
expressed for him centuries before, ‘ Ify eup runneth
over /”

A statement from the pen of Rev. Henry J. Hayter, in
which he relates a conversation between himself and Dr.
Mattison about two years before his return to the M. E.
Church, correctly indicates the spirit in which he finally
came back. Mr. Hayter says: ‘To my surprise I found
in him no spirit of complaint against the Church. He
rejoiced that she had acted so nobly on the slavery ques-
tion. I invited him to atttend our Conference then in
session, but other engagements prevented him. With the
sweet open-heartedness so characteristic of Dr. Mattison,
he assured me that it would afford him great pleasure to
visit our session; that there was no class of men so dear

to him, and whom he so greatly loved as Methodist min-

*
74 RETURNING SUNSHINE.

isters; and that with them he wished to live and to die.’
With such a spirit it is not to bo wondered at that his
reception back was so warm and unanimous.”

As the reader has seen from one of his letters, Dr.
Mattison had ardently hoped to bring with him on his
return, the Church and congregation of which he was
pastor, but though this hope was not realized at that time
nor subsequently during his life, the end of it was not
long delayed after his death. On Sunday, May 16, 1869,
St. John’s Independent Methodfst Church was opened
with appropriate services as St. Luke’s Methodist Epis-
copal Church. How happy would he have been to wit-
ness that consummation so devoutly wished for! Could
he have been present and shared in the services, his
heart must have bounded with a higher and a purer joy
than any one of all the deeply interested ministers and
laymen in attendance. That would have expanded the
measure of his already overflowing “cup.”
CHAPTER X. |

A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

fully restored to the eee of ite offi-
ciary ; enjoying also his usual health, and
ROY) occupying an important station, one would
( - napane ly Hare muppcsctl that ae Mattison

  
 
 

rence labor to the close of life.’* But Providence
had another path marked out for him. For years he had
looked with painful interest upon the progress of Roman-
ism in this country, and in common with other Protestant
. ministers, had exerted himself to-countervail its operations.
But during his pastorate in Jersey City, circumstances
gathered around him which greatly intensified bis feelings
upon this subject. We give his own account as published
in Zion’s Herald May 15th, 1867: :
“‘ About three months since three Roman Catholic priests
‘Missionaries of the Society of Jesus,’ that is Jesuits,

 

* Rev. W. Hosmer.
76 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

went forth from their ‘Church’ of the Holy Family,’
Chicago, to preach missions, as they call them in various
cities. One Father Smarius was the chief speaker, and
the other two attended the confessionals, sold pictures,
madonnas, rosaries, etc. Among the places visited, they
went to Jersey City, ‘N. J., and opened their mission in the
Great St Peter’s Church, recently dedicated. Here
Father Smarius announced a course of nine lectures on
the points of difference between Catholics and Protestants.
The latter were especially invited, the best pews in the
house reserved for them, and quite a number of them
attended. The lectures were able, and well calculated to
conceal the real character and doctrines cf the Romish
Church.

As results of the ‘mission,’ the priests sold at least
a full cart load of pictures of the Virgin, crucifixes,
rosaries, breviaries, etc.; all of which articles publicly
received the Pope’s blessing upona certain day. Over
two thousand dollars were realized in various collections,
and by a benefit lecture; a large number of books con-
taining the nine lectures in print, were sold, and fifteen
‘Protestants,’ so called, were baptized, and the great
‘change of faith’ sa sent abroad through the news-
“papers.”

How little aware were these “over-zealous oppsins of
Romanism, that there was “standing one among them,”
who, like Paul, had been ‘set for the defense of the
A FIERCE BATTLE WFLL FOUGHT. 77

Gospel,” a very veteran in warfare against ungodliness
and error. Presently they shall hear from him in tones
the widening waves of which shall reach even the Vatican.
He writes:

“All this while, we were watching all that was transpir-
ing and when the announcement went forth that ‘ fifteen
Protestants had been baptized,’ as a result of Father
Smarius’ lectures, we investigated the matter, and sent
forth after the announcement, the statement, that not one
of the fifteen was, when tho lectures began, or ever had

- been, a Protestant of any denomination. So the ‘fifteen
Protestants,’ vanished.

The next thing of interest was the conversion of two
young Catholics, fifteen and seventeen, who had been
attending our meetings, and their public baptism, by con-
sent and in the presence of their parents in the Metho-
dist church—two clear and happy conversions.

As yet ‘all was quiet along the Potomac ;’ we then pro-
cured a copy of the printed lectures, and announced that
we would deliver a lecture the next Sabbath evening, upon
the subject of Transubstantiation, in review of the seventh
lecture of Father Smarius, recently delivered in St Peter’s
Church. In the printed notices in the dailies, it was asked;

‘Can a Roman Catholic priest change bread into flesh,
and wine into blood, by the reciting of a Latin prayer?’
‘Do Romanists really eat the flesh, and drink the blood of
the-Son of God?’ All good Catholics who would like to
78 A FIEBCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT. :

hear these questions answered by a Protestant, in a candid
and charitable spirit, are invited to attend. Admission
free, and a cordial welcome to all till the house is filled.

The night proved dark and rainy: but to our utter sur-
prise, when we reached theChurch it was nearly filled.’
Recognizing all the truths held by Romanists ; commend-
ing their devotion to their own church services, and their
liberality in giving for religious purposes; and telling them
that we belonged to, and were a priest of the old Catholic
Church to which the apostles belonged, and that we were
only opposed to the errors that had been fastened upon
their Church ; and using, meanwhile, the Douay version of
the Bible; and so informing them, and speaking of the
Romanists as our ‘Catholic brethren,’ we proceeded to
refute the arguments of Father Smarius, and show the
utter absurdity of the doctrine under consideration. And
as a suitable test of the faith of the priests themselves,
we proposed, in conclusion, that some bread and wine be
poisoned, and then, if Archbishop McCloskey could so
change the whole by a Latin prayer, that he would dare
to eat the flesh, so called, and drink the blood, after they
were made such by his prayer, we promised to go over to
the Catholic faith; and if the priests had not faith enough
in their transubstantiating power to take the elements ;
under these circumstances, then the Catholics should agree
to abandon the dogma forever.

The audience was supposed tocontain about four hun-
A FIERCE BATTLE WELL Fouanr. 79

dred of the most intelligent Catholics in the city—the
Americanized class; and they listened with marked atten-
tion for near an hour and a, half.

Next Sabbath evening, a lecture was given upon Peter,
as the rock upon which the Church is built:

‘Is St. Peter the Rock upon which the Church of Christ
rests? Has the Pope now in his possession the ‘keys of
the kingdom of heaven,’ originally given to Peter?’ ete.

The house was again filled, the number of Catholics
being about the same, and the attention excellent. Such
had been the disappointment of many who had not been
able to hear the first lecture on account of the rain, that it
was deemed best to revise and re-deliver it. It was
announced accordingly. The church was uncomfortably
packed, and just as the text was announced, crash came a
stone through one ef the rear side windows, opposite the
pulpit. Of course nervous ladies started, and two or three
went out. A few sentences were uttered, and another
crash was heard, still louder than the first and breaking
two more panes of glass. By this time some of the
trustees had got outside, and heard the rioters run up the
alley between the old St. Peter’s Church, and the house
formerly occupied, if not now, by the Sisters of Mercy.
No further disturbance occurring the lecturer proceeded ;
and the next day being the day for the charter election,
and the Democrats having nominated a noted Catholic
for Mayor, and the Republicans a Protestant, and the.
80 A FIERCE BATILE WELL FOUGHT.

news of the window-smashing going over the city, the
Protestants consolidated and elected a Protestant mayor,
by eighty-four majority—the first for years!

Two other lectures have since been delivered, one upon
priestly absolution and the confessional, and the other
upon the worship of the “Virgin Mary. The house has
been crowded, and the attendance and interest of the
Catholics unabated; and no further disturbance has oc-
curred.

The fourth lecture was announced in the city papers as
follows :

‘Farner Smarts’ Firra Lecrorr.—Can Roman Catholic
priests forgive sins? Are their pardons of any avail to
to the guilty: sinner? Rev. Dr. Mattison will answer
these questions in his: church in York Street, to morrow-
evening, at 7 1-2 o’clock. All good Catholics who desire
to know the truth, and obtain a genuine and saving abso-
lution, are invited to attend. Seats free for visitors and
strangers till the house is filled.’ =

The house was again packed, and after a fair statement
of the doctrine of priestly absolution, it was shown that
such. an assumpution was not once mentioned in all the
acts and epistles of ‘the old*Catholic priests ’—the apos-
tles of Christ—that they uniformly pointed to Christ as
the source of all effectual pardon of sin,—that the priests
had no more right to issue pardons than they had to issue
seven-thirty government bonds, and that with only this
A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FouGHT. 81

‘confederate currency’ it was no wonder that Catholics
were detained in purgatory, instead of going through to
heaven. They were then plainly told that not one sin of
all their past lives, which the priests had pretended to
remit, was really forgiven by God; that he could not and
would not recognize any such interference with his divine
prerogatives; and that all their past sins were unforgiven.
to this hour. The invitations and promises of Christ
were then set before them, and they were warmly ex-.
horted to go home, fall upon their knees, confess their
wrong in seeking mercy at the hands of a mere fallible
mortal, and to pray the all-merciful Saviour to pity and
have mercy upon them. A more attentive audience is
seldom to be found.
The next lecture was thus advertised :

‘Rev. Dr. Mattison will preach to-morrow evening
upon the worship of the Virgin Mary, in review of the
eighth lecture of Father Smarius: ‘Is it right to pray
to the Virgin Mary? Can she hear us, or do anything
for us?? All good Catholics who would like to hear these
questions answered from the Catholic Bible are especially
invited to attend. Not the slightest danger of disturb-
ance. Admission free, and a cordial welcome to visitors
and strangers.’

The crowd this evening amounted to a perfect jam.
Every available foot of space, and every loose bench
and camp-stool occupied, and scores stood in the aisles.
82 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FoucHT.

It was shown that Romanists really worship the Virgin
Mary, and they pray to her, adore her, kneel before her
image, and trust in her for pardon, purity and salvation.
In short, that -she is the goddess of the Catholic Church,
being prayed to, adored, and trusted in far more than
Jesus Christ and God the Father. It was then shown
from the Douay Bible that all such worship was offensive
to God, that it was worshiping and serving the creature
more than the Oreator—a thing which ‘Father Paul, an
old Catholic priest,’ condemned in the heathen—that
Mary, being a mere finite woman, who could not even
raise her own body from the power of death, but was
obliged to leave it in the grave till the day of judgment,
could do nothing for them, even if she heard them; and
that she could no more hear or know of their prayers
than if she was still on earth, or than Queen Victoria
could if they should all go praying to her. Again were
they urged to abandon the worship of a woman, even
though she were the mother of the human body of Christ,
and to turn to the living God; who alone can hear prayer,
forgive sin, and save the souls of men.”

These skirmishes with the enemy led to the preparation
of three additional lectures upon “The Decline of Roman-
ts,” in which it was shown: (1) That the Douay Bible
, predicts the final decline and fall of the Roman Catholic
Church. (2) That it is now rapidly declining in nearly
every foreign land, and (8) That its growth in the United
A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FouGHT. 83

States—the last hope “of the Papacy—is vastly exagger-
ated, and less rapid than that of. Protestantism; so that
on the whole it is rapidly declining from Rome and Aus-
tria, its heart and lungs, to its extremities in Ireland, and
Spain and Canada, and Mexico, and in other lands.

The substance of these lectures was afterward prepared
for the Methodist Quarterly Review, and appeared in the
issues of July and October 1868. They abounded in
facts and statistics which few men besides Dr. Mattison
could havé commanded the time or patience to collect
under the circumstances; for while doing this he was
-attending to the regular duties of his pastorate, besides
corresponding with Sunday periodicals, delivering lectures
abroad, dedicating churches, etc.

An impression had long existed and was rapidly gain-
ing strength that a more direct and systematic effort
ought to be made by the Protestant Churches, and espe-
cially by our own, to checkmate the movements of
Romanism among us. As by a common impulse, the
thoughts of the Church turned toward Dr. Mattison as
“the coming man” to organize and direct the cam-
paign. How he came to devote himself to this work in
the manner he did, was told, in part, by Dr. Scudder,

_Secretary of the American and Foreign Christian
Union, on the occasion of his funeral. In giving the
second address he said, ‘I loved this brother. Let me

tell you a little of our personal intercourse, for I think
84 & FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

it was strange. God deals wonderfully in this world in
bringing men together, and associating them in a work
such as has been described. Two years ago, a tall; thin,
spare man bearing the marks of disease, of pain, and
of sorrow upon his face, came into my office and sat
down in a chair. Very soon he spoke of the work in
which I was engaged, and. then went on, without any
suggestion from me, to speak of that work in relation
to the Church of God in America, and for half an hour
I sat wrapt in attention. I said: ‘My brother, I know
not who you are, but, as you understand this question
as fow of us understand it, you ought to dedicate your
life, what remains of it, to God in this work.’ Whether
this was the occasion that led Dr. Mattison to connect
himself with that work or not, I may not say, but suf-
ficient it is to observe, that very soon he offered’ his
services to us, and they were accepted.”

Before taking this step however, he carefully qegned
the subject, and freely consulted the Bishops and other
leading minds of the Church, among them Drs. Curry,
McClintock, Whedon, Carlton, Porter, Wise, and Crooks,
not to name others. Being thereby confirmed in the
belief, that Providence called him to this particular work
in some form, and the American and Foreign Christian
Union being already organized and in operation as an
anti-Roman Catholic society, he reached the conclusion
that duty pointed to his early connection with that society ;
A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT. 85

and accordingly with the opening spring of 1868, he was
duly enrolled as one of its District Secretaries. This
arrangement was heartily endorsed by the Newark Con-
ference, held soon after, and Bishop Clark appointed him
officially to his new sphere of labor. The other Confer-
ences in turn took favorable action, and everywhere the
Church seemed more than satisfied with the arrangement.
All felt, what was eminently true, that few men in the
nation, if any, were so well fitted to this work as Dr.
Mattison. Said Dr. Glentworth Butler, senior Secretary
of the Union: “No man who was ever associated with me,
in the labors of this Society, had so completely entered
into my own views of the vastness of its aims, and the
methods of its operations.”* He even went beyond him-
self. All the fire and energy of youth returned. He was
emphatically aman of one work. How much he accom-
plished. eternity alone will fully reveal; but enough is
known to stamp his achievements as truly marvelous.
During the few months of his connection with the Chris-
tian Union, he prepared eight heavy pamphlets against
Romanism, every one of them a telling bolt, and all this
while, he was preaching, addressing Conferences, and
lecturing almost incessantly. One of his friends declares,
that in this brief time, “he had thought as much, and
done as much, as most men would have thought and done
in an ordinary life-time.”

 

* Memorial Sermon of Rev. G. L. Taylor.
86 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

Was it surprising that such a man should be looked
upon by the Papacy with mingled dread and hatred?

The keen weapons of facts and figures which he wielded
against it, were far more damaging than sword and can-
non. Knowing and feeling this, the Romanists spared no
pains to asperse his good name and silence his powerful
‘voice; but challenges and slanders, affected contempt and
threats, were alike unavailing. We give the following
letter from Chicago, to one of the Jersey City papers, as
furnishing an illustration of Dr. Mattison’s handsome
mode of dealing with all such opponents as the one therein
described :

“An Amusing Narrative—A Discussion Almost.
7 Curcago, June 3d, 1868,

Epiror or roe Eventna Jovrnan:

During the recent session of the Methodist General
‘Conference, in this city, Father Hecker of New York,
‘delivered a public lecture in the Opera Honse, entitled,
“‘A Search After Rational Christianity: or, How I Became
a Catholic.’ In this lecture, Mr. Hecker took occasion to
‘earicature Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Metho-
“dists, and Unitarians, by name, as denominations. Dr.
Mattison, of your city, being present, as one of his hearers,
“took full notes of the lecture, and a few evenings afterward,
' replied to it, before a crowded audience, in the Clark St.
M. E. Church, nearly opposite the Opera House, and
where the Conference held its session. Such was the
A FIERCE BATTLE WFLL FoUGHRT. 87

interest awakened, that a second meeting was held, upon
the Character and Tendencies of Romanism, at which
Bishop Scott presided, and addresses were made by Rev.
B.I. Ives of Auburn, N. Y., Rev. Dr. Butler, of Boston,
and Rey. Dr. Mattison. Soon after this second meeting,
a letter appeared in the Chicago Times—a low and vile paper
that was suppressed during the late rebellion, for its trea-
son—challenging Bishop Scott or ‘any gentleman, lay or
- cleric,’ to meet the challenger in a public discussion. The
first and main question proposed, being ‘Is Roman Catholi-
cism a saving Christianity?’ This letter was signed,
‘Rey. J. McMullen, D. D.,’ a Roman Catholic priest, and
a professor in one of the colleges here.

To this letter Dr. Mattison replied, that it was impossible
for Bishop Scott to give any attention to the subject, but
specifically accepted the challenge himself, saying, ‘ under
a fair and honorable arrangement, I will discuss the
general issues with you.’ He then offered, as soon as prac-
ticable to publicly maintain the affirmative of the question,
‘Is Romanism a corrupt form of Christianity? Mr. Mc
Mullen to defend his faith by maintaining the negative.

The next day, Dr. McMullen appeared in a second
letter, ignoring the question he had previously proposed,
and which had been definitely accepted, and proposing a
new one namely, that ‘Methodism is a corrupt form of
Christianity,’ ete. He then virtually retired from the dis-
cussion by saying, ‘My parting remarks to the Metho-
88 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

dists—Gentlemen, Iam done with you for a season, per-
haps forever. Whatever you may do or say hereafter,
will never engage my thought, or move my pen.’ Upon
seeing this, Dr. Mattison at once replied that ‘one war at.
a time,’ was a good maxim, and at a proper time, he should.
not be wanting in defending ‘Methodism;’ but at present,,
the question was not, as to the character and influence of
‘Methodism,’ but ‘Is Romanism a corrupt form of Chris-.
tianity?’ and insisted that Dr. McMullen should stick to
his own question, and not exchange it for a new one. Dr.
Mattison further stated, that he must return to Jersey City
in a day or two, but if Dr. McMullen would stand up to
his challenge and question, he would return to Chicago
within two weeks, and hold the proposed discussion.
Although Dr. McMullen had specifically withdrawn from
the field by saying, ‘Whatever you may do or say here-
after will never engage my thought, or move my pen,’
there was one sentence, at the close of Dr. Maitison’s
letter, that had power to do both, and that was the post-
script, in which he stated that he must return to Jersey
City on Tuesday last. Accordingly, Dr. McMullen
appeared again in the Zimes of that morning, saying :
‘Some person, known to be gentlemanly and learned,
must‘meet me at the platform of the first hall or rink
that can be procured: for the purpose, in this city, ‘within
three days,’ or I shall consider my proposal not accept-
ed!?
A FIESCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT. 89

Seeing this in the morning papers, a3 he was to leave
at 5: 15e.a., Dr. Mattison dispatched a note to Dr. Mc
Mullen’s address, and also to the evening papers, say-
ing, ‘Much as it will incommode me, I will meet you
within three days, in any place you may choose in the
city,’ but added that unless he was assured by a note
sent to the Conference building before four o’clock that
day, that Dr. McMullen would stand by his last offer,
he should take the train at 5:15 for Jersey City. Dr.
M. remained till five o’clock, and no note appearing,
took the cars for home and left Rev. J. McMullen, D.D.,
‘alone in his glory.’ Such, in brief, is the history of
the bold assault and quiet retreat of Rev. Dr. McMullen,
Roman Catholic champion of this city.”

Not long after this an anonymous challenge of similar
character appeared in the Evening Journal, Jersey City,
and was promptly accepted by Dr. Mattison in a note
over his own proper signature; but the anonymous
boaster, after sundry equivocations, found it convenient
to let the Doctor alone, and so backed out of his over-
hasty challenge.

By this time the Romanists had learned that Dr. Mat-
tison was a rather difficult opponent to deal with. The
“troubling of Israel” by Elijah in Ahab’s qay was being
re-enacted, the impius king having a true successor in
Pope Pius IX; the corrupt Jewish Church being a fit
type of the equally corrupt papacy ; and the stern.
90 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

prophet of Tishbeh having a worthy antitype in our
heroic subject. But if he had becn a troubler of the
Romish Israel hitherto, he was destined to become
doubly such, by a bolder reproof of its wrongs and a
more thorough exposure of its reeking pollutions. The
occasion for this was soon furnished in the case of Mary
Ann Smith. That the reader may have an intelligent
understanding of this case we present the following brief
history.

Mary Ann Smith, daughter of an Irishman, James
Smith, of Newark, who had been brought up in the com-
munion of the Roman Catholic Church, in January, 1868
renounced Romanism; and, professing conversion, was re-
ceived as a class-member of a Methodist Church in New-
ark. There is no particle of evidence showing that any -
undue influence was used on her to produce the change
in her views, or, in fact any influence at all, other than
the ordinary preaching of the gospel at a series of revival
meetings. Her renunciation of Romanism’ was public,
and was known to her father and other Roman Catholic
relatives. Her mother had died five years ago, and since
that time her father had made no provision for Mary
Ann’s support, though he had the grace not to claim tho
wages which she earned while at service. She continued
in’ her place asa servantin the family ofa gentleman
in. Newark, and regnlarly attended the Methodis:
Church .with which she had connected herself; in all
A FIERCE BATYLE WELL FOUGIT. 91

respects conducting herself, as numbers of respectable
witnesses testify, in the most exemplary menner, and
bearing the reputation of a virtuous, discreet, industrious
girl. Suddenly Mary Ann Smith disappeared. She went
out one day in March last, and never returned to tho
house of her employer. For many weeks, no trace of
her whereabouts could be discovered. Finally, the fol-
lowing facts transpired—-That she had been decoyed by
lying messages, sent to her by some of her Roman
Catholic relatives, telling her that some relatives were
sick, which was wholly false, into the house of her aunt;
that there she was met by a Roman Catholic priest,
‘Father Doane, and by her father, who importuned her to
enter the House of the Good Shepherd, in New York;
she refused, but, finally, under a solemn pledge that if
she would go and see the institution, and did not wish
to enter it or to remain, she should be free to come away,
she did go thither; that the moment she was inside the
gates, the key was turned and permision to leave was
‘denied her; that in the House of the Good Shepherd
she was classed and compelled to daily and nightly as-
‘associate with prostitutes, thieves, and convicts, from
Blackwell’s Island, in fact, with the worst female
characters; was fed on poor food, compelled to work
twelve hours a day,and was treated in all respects as a
prisoner.

Such were the facts when Dr. Mattison’s attention was
92 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGIIT.

called to the case by Rev. Jesse 8. Gilbert, her pastor.
He had already instituted legal proceedings for her liber-
ation, and waiting on Dr. Mattison, sought his advice
and aid in the management of the suit. What followed
has been made familiar to the public by his thrilling
volume entitled, ‘‘The abduction of Mary Ann Smith by
the Roman Catholics,”etc., a copy of which ought to be
in every Protestant family in the land. Additional inci-
dents have been furnished us by Rev. J. 8. Gilbert,
whose reminiscenses we are sure will deeply interest the
reader. He writes:

“My first acquaintance with the late Dr. Mattison, was
on the 18th of June 1868. I called tosee him on a matter
well adapted to bring out his peculiar’traits of character.
A young girl, a member of my Church, had been abducted
and confined in a Convent in N. Y. city, for leaving the
faith of Rome. I related the facts to him, and in a
moment, he was all on fire. ‘Brother,’ said he, ‘if you
were in a protracted meeting, and were having souls con-
verted every night, you, would not be working more directly
for God, than in hunting down these deceivers.’ He at once
left all his other duties, and we went over to see the coun-
sel I had employed to carry on the suit of habeas corpus.
The next day, Friday, the case came up before Judge
Ingraham. Mattison was there, also Doane, and all the
interested parties. Mattison complained that so little
notice had been taken of the case by the press, and called
A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT. 93

at the various offices, securing the attendance of the re-
porters. He gathered up all the facts, and made them
blaze over all the land.

Papers, religious and secular, English and German,
papers in the East, West, North, and South, spread the
case before their readers, but Dr. Mattison was at the
bottom of all the agitation. He well knew the priceless
value of the press. The trial ran on for some weeks, but
I do not think that Dr. Mattison. was once absent from the
court room when the case came up. The Dr. could not
bear with lukewarmness in others when his own soul was
en fire, and did not think our lawyers did enough.
Neither was he pleased with the silence of the .
and in his book, when speaking of the outspoken tone of

 

the press, mentions ‘one exception.” He knew men did
not love to hear the truth concerning Romanism, but it
mattered not to him. He reminded me of the Old Testa-
ment prophets. The furnace might be heated seven times
hotter than usual, but the message must be delivered.
He once said to me in his study, ‘I thank God for all I
have suffered in the cause of freedom. I have been per-
“ secuted and shunned because of my anti-slavery principles,.
but I thank God for it all.’ The case was decided against
us; Mattison bade the weeping girl farewell, exhorted her
to trust in God, promised to do all he could for her release,
and sadly we left the place of our defeat. As we were
leaving the. court-yard, the Catholic lawyer came along.
94 A FIEKCE BATTLE WEYL FOUGIT.

‘Why,’ said Mattison, ‘did you in court, call Zybert and
Lillis Methodists? They were no more Methodists than
they were Roman Catholics.’ Said the lawyer, ‘I never
answer outside, for what I say in argument in Court.’ M.
replied, ‘When a pert little lawyer slanders a great relig-
ious denomination, he ought to answer for it somewhere.’
The ‘pert little lawyer’ left, evidently thinking that Dr.
Mattison belonged to the church militant. ‘Never mind,’
said the Dr., as we walked along, ‘I think for such times
as these was it written, ‘Fret not thyself because of evil
doers.’ The case had been decided against us, but Dr.
Mattison did not despair. He set about the preparation of
his book, collected funds to carry on an appeal, and kept
the matter constantly before the people. Several letters
that I received from him when he was preparing the book,
I send to you in aseparate envelope. MyChurch gave me
.the month of August for a vacation, but Dr. Mattison
soon called me back. The note I then received from him
I have marked, ‘call from vacation.’ We thought we
could then have the case re-opened, but failed. However,
that was the end of my vacation. There was no rest when
working with Dr, Mattison. On the 19th of August, a letter
was published in the Newark Daily, claiming to come from
Mary Ann Smith, stating that she had once more found
peace in the true faith, and wished her Protestant friends
to stay all further proceedings. On the 22nd, Dr. Matti-
son wrote his celebrated challenge to Doane. On the
rn

A FIERCE BATTLE WFLL FOUGHT. 95

24th, Doane replied, refusing to investigate the matter
with Dr. Mattison and myself, on the ground of self respect.
I went to Jersey city inthe five o’clock train, took Doane’s
letter, and came back late in the evening with Mattison’s
withering reply. Dr. M. came home about six o’clock—
read Doane’s article, smiled, took off his coat, and wrote
for about two hours. He never stopped for supper, but
about nine o’clock we went down stairs and had some-
thing to eat.

The letter was published, and created no small amount
of sensation. On Sunday, November 15th, Dr. Mattison
preached for the last time. I had considerable conversa-
tion with him on that day, and the following. He said
among other things, that when he thought how feeble his
health had been, he felt thankful that God had spared him
solong. He also said, on my remarking that he might live
yet for many years, ‘I shall feel thankful, if I can work
for ten years more.’ He said that he had a book to pub-
lish for each of those years, and had much of the material
prepared; one was to be on the Second Advent, and another
was to be on the Day of Judgment. On Monday, he was
present at our preachers’ meeting, and delivered his last
speech. We willnever forget it. Theafternoon (he took
dinner with Dr. Crane,) we went up to the jail, saw Ellis,
and secured his recantation. The Dr. was in grand spirits ;
we took tea with Bro. Rooney. We wanted the Dr. to
remain over night, and to be at the dedication of the St.
96 A FIERCE BATTLE WELL FOUGHT.

Paul’s parsonage, but he could not stay away from home,
without giving his family notice. He took the cars for
Jersey City, to notify his family, expecting to return, and
intending to call on Gov. Ward in the morning, to get him
interested in our case; you know the rest. He laid his
weary head on the Master’s breast, and fell asleep. I saw
‘him once or twice during his illness, and as long as he had
breath to speak, he gave me advice how to conduct our
case.”
Parr 2
CHARACTER.

AN that man be dead

Whose spiritual influence is upon his kind?
He lives in glory; and his speaking dust

Has more of life than half ite breathing
Moulds.”

 

(M168 LanDon.
 

OHAPTER I.

SCHOLARSHIP.

acter may be inferred from the chief

    
  

facts of his life as.already narrated. He
Wf possessed, however, certain distinguishing
peculiarities which seem to demand a more

&) specific notice. The consideration of these will

“2 © be the work of the present chapter and those
which are to follow.

We begin with his scholarship. Not that this was
peculiar in regard either to its profundity or its finish,
but it was at least remarkable for both its extensive range
considering his lack of early advantages, and its eminent-
ly practical type. He was not an educated man in the
technical sense, but in every other he was. ‘No appre-
100 SCIIOLARSHIP.

ciative instructors bade him aspire; no halls of learning
opened their doors to him; no wealthy patron volunteered
to encourage and ‘see him through.’ His own aspirations.
chose their difficult path, and God’s providence took him
into its own great school ere he knew it.”* In that school
he became a self-made man after the highest and best.
model. Mr. Hosmer’s testimony at this point is as truth-
ful as it is beautiful: ‘We have had and still have, men
of as profound intellect as Dr. Mattison, but I know not
as we have, or ever had, one of the same stirring, indomi-
table character. Nelther his health, nor his education,
nor the field of his early ministry, favored that strong
devotion to literature and science which marked his whole
career. It was the force of native genius triumphing
over all obstacles—the brilliance of the diamond elicited
not by the skill of the lapidary, but by attrition among.
the pebbles of its own lowly bed. He was, in short, a
great man without any aid from the usual appliances of
literary culture, and in spite of every hindrance that can
well be imagined in the way of successful development.”
No one could hear Dr. Mattison speak, nor can any one
read his published works, without being impressed with
his extensive knowledge and mental culture. But this
impression is not the result of any fictitious show of
learning, for no man was ever further removed from
pedantry or more heartily. despised it than did he.

 

 * Rey. G. L. Taylor.
SCHOLARSHIP, 101

Educated men not less than others saw in him a
real scholarship, though without the least pretension to
scholasticism; hence among those not acquainted with
his early history he passed, and very naturally so, for
a liberally educated man. If Franklin, Shakespeare,
Samuel Drew, John Hunter, Cobbett, Hugh Miller, Lin-
coln, Burritt, Greeley and a host of others, without col-
legiate advantages attained to a well deserved emiuence.
in the world of letters, or of science, or both, so Dr.
Mattison, moved by the same burning thirst for know-
ledge and the same tireless zeal in acquiring it, rose
to the merited distinction of a self-educated scholar.

This was accorded to him by other Churches not less

than our own. Dr. Scudder, of the Reformed Church,
began his funeral address in these words :—“ My brethren
in the ministry, I feel that a great man hath fallen—no,.
not fallen, for our brother lies not there. He lives as he
_ never lived before. We have heard of his scholarship,
. bnt how much greater opportunities does he now enjoy
for study! What a school that brother now stands in,
and what a Master stands at his head to teach him!”
One of the resolutions adopted by the Newark Preachers’
Meeting relative to his death was as follows:

“That in his long, diversified, and extensively useful
labors, we recognize the able disputant, the acute scholar,
the eloquent preacher, the earnest and successful worker,
and the humble and happy Christain.”
102 SCHOLARSHIP.

Among the names of the committee appended to the
report of which this formed a part, was that of the Rer.
J. K. Burr, A. M., whose exact and extensive scholarship
is well known, and who, if we mistake not, drafted the
report. An amusing incident will further illustrate the
esteem in which Dr. Mattison’s literary attainments were
held in cultivated circles. Among the topics which came
up for discussion at the Boston Convention of ministers
and laymen in the summer of 1867, was the question of a
classically educated ministry. An able and scholarly
essay had just been read, in which the writer insisted upon
a high standard of intellectual culture in the future minis-
try of the Church, and more than intimated that a colle-
giate education ought to be made a condition of ministerial
honors. To this Dr. Mattison took strong exceptions, and
with his usuai tact and ability, debated the subject in
opposition to the views of the essayist. The latter, in
replying, said that Dr. Mattison himself was a living illus-
tration of the correctness of his position, the Doctor's
success both as a writer and a speaker, being evidently due
in large measure, to the very training for which he was
contending.

No doubt he thought so, and no doubt many in that
Convention besides him, belfeved the same. But the truth
was, that Dr. Mattison knew nothing from experience of a
college curriculum, and had the slightest possible know-
ledge of the Greek-and Roman classics. Yet he was a
ACHOLAKSITIP, 103

truly educated man, being well versed in his own vernac-
ular, in ancient and modern history, in natural science, in
poetry and music, in general literature, but most of all in
theology. With the aid of lexicons he could read and
translate the original Scriptures, but made no claim to a
nice acquaintance with either the Hebrew or the Greek.
His eminent success both in self-culture, and in his apt use
of it for the public good, is a fit subject of thought for
every ambitious youth to whom the advantages of a liberal
school education are denied. With the example of Hiram
Mattison before him, let no such youth despair. Neither
fortune nor genius made him what he became, but rather
those agencies which lie within the grasp of all. First
among these, was force of will. Nothing that is of real
worth can be accomplished without this. The feeble and
hesitating find everything impossible, chiefly because it
seems so. Mr. Smiles in his “Self-Help,” gives several
examples of will-power which all may study with profit.
He speaks of a young French officer, of whom it is related
that he used to walk about his apartment exclaiming, “I
will be Marshal of France, and a great general.” This
ardent desire was a presentiment of his success, for he did
become a distinguished commander, and died a Marshal

of France. The story is told of a carpenter, who was
observed one day planing a magistrate’s bench -which he
was repairing with more than usual carefulness, and when
asked the reason he replied, “Because I wish to make it
104 SCILOLARSHIP.

easy against the time when I come to sit upon it myself.”
And, singularly enough, that man actually lived to sit
upon that very bench as a magistrate. ‘You can only
half will,’ was the customary remark of Suwarrow to
persons who failed. “Learn! Do! Try!” he would ex-
claim. When Napoleon was told that the Alps stood in
the way of his armies he said, ‘‘ There shall be no Alps,”
and the road.across the Simplon was constructed through
a district: formerly almost inaccessible. ‘ Impossible”
said he, “is a word to be found only in the dictionary of
fools.” ‘
It is currently related of one of the Bishops of the.
Methodist Episcopal Church, that while yet a young man,
he on one occasion, said with an earnestness which attest-
ed both his sincerity and his determination, “I will be-
Bishop ;” and so it came to pass but a few years after.
This end was not the result of office-seeking, but of a steady
persistent purpose to qualify kimself for any office, even
the highest, inthe gift of the Church. - Though that young.
man began his-ministerial life with no college honors, only -
a plain. New England education, a small and slender
person, a feminine voice, and feeble health, yet by diligence
and perseverance, stimulated by an unconquerable force
of will, he: rose to his present position; and in filling
the Episcopal chair for the last twenty-five years, he has
proved himself a worthy successor of Asbury:
-In‘these. instances of remarkable will-power, we have-
SCITOLARSHIP. 105

an illustration of one chief element of Dr. Mattison’s suc-
cess. He determined to learn, and learn he did, though
at first without books, or the means to obtain them; he
. Tesolved to be great, and great he became, though difficul-
ties cast their dark shadows across his pathway. at every
step. His invincible determination reminds one of the
touching incident told by the renowned Kossuth at Mar-
seilles, when onhis way tothiscountry. “Last evening,”
he said, “ one of our brothers, a Marseilles workman—
I know his name and will not forget it—in spite of the
cold, swam to the American frigate to press miy hand. I
took his hand with pity, with emotion, and reproached him
for his rashness. ‘What could I. do?’ said he; ‘I was
determined to touch your hand; not finding a. boat, I
threw myself into the water, and hereI am. Are these
obstacles to aman whois determined to carry out his will ?
“T bowed down,” said Kossuth ‘‘ before these noble words.
The motto ‘ There ts no obstacle to him that wills,’ shall hence-
forth be mine.” Long before these words were uttered, .
our subject had adopted them in spirit as hisown; and
during all the years of his struggles and sufferings, he
never allowed this device to grow dim upon his fair escut-
cheon.

This determined spirit in Dr. Mattison, was accompanied
by habits of unremitting diligence. He knew the value ot
“odd moments,” as they have been called. ‘While othors
were seeking pleasure, he was seeking knowledge; while
106 scHoLaRsmre.

they were sleeping, he was studying; while they were
smoking, hs was reading; while they were hunting or
fishing, he was writing. Frew men have ever more literally
carried out Mr. Wesley’s ‘‘ Rules for a Preacher’s Conduct,”
especially the first which says, “Be diligent. Never be
unemployed: never be triflingly employed. Never trifle
away time; neither spend any more time at any place than
is strictly necessary.” Only those acquainted with his
habits in respect to diligence, can fully appreciate Mr.
Gilbert’s remark given in a previous chapter: ‘‘There was
no rest when working with Dr. Mattison.” That such
habits should have resulted in large personal attainments,
and in a corresponding usefulness to others, was neither
new nor unnatural. Where is the young man who in
this respect may not successfully imitate him? ‘ With
perseverance, the very odds and ends of time may bo
worked up into results of the greatest value. An hour in
every day withdrawn from frivolous pursuits would, if
profitably employed, enable a person of ordinary capacity

to go far toward mastering a complete science. It would
make an ignorant man a well informed man in ten years.
Dr. Mason Good translated Lucretius while riding in the
streets of London, going his rounds among his patients. .
Dr. Darwin composed nearly all his works in the same
way, while driving about in his sulky from house to house
in the country, writing down his thoughts on little scraps
of paper which he carried about with him for the purpose.
SCHOLARSHIP. 107

Hale wrote his ‘Contemplations’ while traveling on circuit.
Dr. Burney learned French and Italian while traveling
on horseback from one musical pupil to another, in the
course of his profession. Kirk White learned Greek
while waiking to and from a Jawyer’s office; and we per-
sonally know a man of eminert position, who learned
French and Latin lwhile going messages as an errand-boy
in the streets of Manchester. Elihu Burritt, while work-
ing and earning his living as a blacksmith, mastered some
eighteen ancient and modern languages, and twenty-two
European dialects.”* Such examples might be multiplied,
to almost any extent.

One other thing contributed largely to Dr. Mattison’s
fund of knowledge—his intelligent observation. He wasa
quiet, but close observer of ‘‘men and things.” Few
objects or facts of interest escaped his attention, and he
had the happy art of using to advantage what he learned
in this way. Moreover the very difficuliies which he was
cbliged to grapple, by giving a wholesome stimulus to
exertion, became his helpers to suzcess. Accordingly, one
has said, ‘‘Itis not ease but effort, not facility but diffi-
culty, that makes men.” This was certainly true in Dr.
Mattison’s case. There are but few now setting out in the
race of life, whose impediments are not far less than his,
but whether less or greater, the indomitable energy dis-
played by him will overcome them and win success. ‘As

 

* Smiles’ “ Self-Help.”
103

SCIIOLARSHIP.

Edmund Stone said to the Duke of Argyle, in answer to
his grace’s inquiry how -he, a poor gardiner’s boy, had
contrived to be able to read Newton’s “Principia,” in
Latin, ‘One needs only to know,’ gaid Stone, ‘the twenty-
four letters of the alphabet, in order to learn everything
that one wishes.’ ”
CHAPTER II.

CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

   
 

RW <a ,) R. MATTISON was no mere logomachist.
rte Ole 3 He does not appear to have engaged in any
& Mids controversy from the love of controversy,
Y} but only from a sense of duty in the case.
And yet it is quite obvious that he was an
adept in polemics and a born logician. His
quick and powerful perceptions gave him such
an insight into what was wrong, that he could not refrain
from correcting it. It was the love of right and truth,
that impelled him into the various theological disputes
which he conducted with some of the best minds in
the Church, and much to his own credit. Where truth
suffered or right was outraged, he was drawn by instinct,
and no danger or difficulty could kcep him out of the
fray. That he did not love controversy for its own sake,
is clear from the fact that he was largely occupied with
non-controversial topics. His works on ‘Astronomy,’ on
the ‘Immortality of the Soul,’ and the ‘Resurrection of

  
 
   
110 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

the Dead, are quite sufficient to disprove the existence
of an inordinate love of Controversy.” *

The first instance which has come to our knowledge
of his “contending earnestly for the faith” in anything
like a formal controversy, occured in the third or fourth
year of his ministry, while stationed at Adams. He
was called to defend the first day of the week as the true
Christian Sabbath, in opposition to the claims of the
Seventh Day Baptists, in showing the fallacy of which
he used with the happiest success the power of both
‘the pulpit and the press. In that early passage at arms,
he proved himself a youthful son of Manoah who should
one day become a very Sampson in polemic strength.

His encounter with Arianism during his Bible agency
in New Jersey in 1841, has already been described, and
-need not here be repeated. But there was work of a
similar kind still left for him on the soil of the same
state. Dr. W. G. Lord of Newark writes thus concern-
ing his visit to that city in the winter of 1845: “He was
here as a supernumerary belonging to the Black River
Conference. His health at this time was poor; his face
was pale; his always slender frame was emaciated, and
looked as though he would soon‘ be an inhabitant of the
spirit land. He came in part for his health, and to.
superintend some literary work then going through the
press.” After speaking of a remarkable sermon on

 

* Rev. W. Hosmer.
CONTENDING EARNESILY FOR THE FAITH. 111

“the glorious gospel of the blessed God,” he contin-
ues: “Soon after he preached the sermon referred to,
the Rev. Mr. Gallager, pastor of the Universalist Church
in this city, adventured to preach a sermon against the
Trinity. Mr. Mattison, with myself and some other
friends, went to hear him; and believing that he was
set for the defence of the gospel, challenged Mr. Gallager
publicly to discuss the subject.

He declined, assigning as a reason, that Mr. Mattison
was a stranger, and a person of no character, etc. ete.
There can be no doubt, however, that he was afraid to
encounter Mr. Mattison—on the principle that:

‘We who fights and runs away,-
May live to fight another day;
But he that is in battle slain.
May never live to fight again.’

But he did not have the letting alone that he hoped;
immediately Mr. Mattison commenced preaching in the
Clinton-Street M. E. Church, a series of sermons on the
Trinity.* ..... The anti-trinitarian kept still, except
to cry for quarters, saying Mr. Mattison was taking the
bread out of his mouth. Error withdrew from the field,
truth triumphed, and God’s honor was sustained.”

It was but natural to expect, that one so vigilent of
error and so ready to confront it, would be among the
first to grapple that gross public imposture known as

 

* A description of these will be found in the next chapter.
112 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

“spirit rapping,” and expose its iniquitous pretensions.
This he did in a telling volume published in 1855, bear-
ing the title of “Spirit Rapping Unveiled”! and contain-
ing a complete expose’ of its origin, history, theology
and philosophy. Of course there was ‘no small stir”
among the hordes of rappers, table-tippers, mediums, ete.,
who were as “full of wrath” against Dr. Mattison as
Demetrius and “the workmen of like occupation” were
against Paul at Ephesus, and for a similar reason: “ this
‘our craft is in danger.”

Moreover, so fully had the prevailing delusion im-
pressed itself upon all classes of minds, that learned
editors and professors, and grave divines were not a little
disposed to criticise Dr. Mattison’s book, and discard its
teachings, by attributing to supernatural influence, or at
least to occult scientific causes, those phenomena which
he insisted were the result of trickery, or at most of _
known physical causes. The progress of' events since that
time, has demonstrated in him that intuitive iusight into
the true relation of things, for which he, beyond most
men, was distinguished. &

His controversy with Dr. J. H. Perry in 1856, on the
Wesleyan doctrine of Christian Perfection, was on both
-sides earnest and able,—a contest in which each dispu-
tant found in the other “w foeman worthy of his steel.”
‘Whatever may be thought of their success or failure in
establishing the positions assumed by them respectively,
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH. ‘113

none can deny that Dr. Mattison evinced an imperturba-
ble self-possession; a nice discrimination in his proofs;
a quick perception of fallacies in his opponent; a keen
power of analysis; and a pointedness of application,
which stamped him at once as a theological polemic with
whom but few might safely enter the lists. Whether for
good or ill, his massive pamphlets had the effect of re-
tarding for several years the growth of what he regarded
as a pernicious excrescence upon the Wesleyan doctrine
of perfect love, and its enlargement in later years was to
him a grievous omen of ill. He well knew that in op-
posing perversions of what he conceived to be the true
doctrine, he would be misunderstood by many as opposing
the true doctrine itself, and in this light he was not un-
frequently represented. But this was ascribing to him an
utterly false position. His very jealousy for the Bible
standard of Holiness, as he held it, led him to resist all
attempts to degrade it below its true normal position.. He
believed there was a constant tendency.towards this in all
those professions of entire sanctification which were not
accompanied by Mr. Fletcher’s “ spiritual constellation of
perfect repentance, perfect faith, perfect humility, per-
fect meekness, perfect self-denial, perfect resignation,
perfect hope, perfect charity for man and perfect love
to God.” Accepting this defiinition of Bible holiness as
correct, he could not fail to observe, what Mr. Wesley so
plainly saw in his day, that many whose spirit and
114 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

practice fell far below this standard, were among the most
forward in making a “profession.” He was therefore
driven to one of two conclusions, either that the scripture
standard of sanctification admitted of anger, pride, self-
will, and sundry other forms of remaining depravity, or
that the class of persons referred to were mistaken as to
their spiritual attainments. Of course he could not adopt
the former conclusion and was therefore compelled to
accept the latter. He freely accorded sincerity and
Christian excellence to most of those spoken of, but
insisted that it was a gross misnomer to call that Chris-
tian perfection which came so far short of it, and which
if accepted as such, must at once strip the doctrine of
that elevated sanctity which the Bible everywhere throws
around it.

While the attainableness of entire sanctification by
all believers in the present life, entered into his deep-
est convictions, he held with Mr. Wesley before him,
that comparatively few experience it this side of death;
that as the highest bliss of heaven may be reached only
by the probationary discipline of self-denial, suffering,
and continuous spiritual growth, so the highest enjoy-
ments of the Christian life on earth may be realized only
through similar processes; and that accordingly the New
Testament clearly speaks of our being “crucified with
Christ;” “mortifying the deeds of the body ;” “suffering
in the flesh;” “walking in tho light,” etc., as necessary
CONTENDING BARNESTLY FOR THE FAITI. 115

antecedents of that sublime testimony, “The blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

The honest sincerity of Dr. Mattison in entertaining
these views, was evinced by the unswerving fidelity with
which: he advocated them during the long years of his
ministry, sometimes amid no little reproach, and the
utter absence of any expressed doubt concerning them in
his last sickness and death. They were such views as it
was safe, at least for him, to die by. The Rev. G. L.
Taylor, though holding the views which Dr. Mattison
felt it his duty to combat, has paid the following just and
beautiful tribute to his ripening devotion during the
closing months of his life: ‘That sanctification which
still he could not accept as an entire and instantaneous
work through faith, and against which he honestly
preached in his last farewell sermon, seemed nevertheless,
after his own views, to be gradually but rapidly going on -
in his own soul to its full fruition. The deepest things
of God seemed opening to him, and he fed on the milk
and honey of Canaan. So he grew sweeter and stronger,
and ripening still. as he fought, until suddenly called
away. He has gone home to glory. His death was the
crown of his life.” *

Perhaps no form of error more fully occupied Dr. Mat-
tison’s attention at various times, or more largely employ-
ed his voice and pen, than what is popularly known as

 

* Memorial Sermon,
116 CONTENDING FARNESILY FOR THE FAITI.

Storrism. Against this and its twin-sister Universalism
he was accustomed to level his keenest shafts. This he
did too at a time when. the former, coming to aid the
latter, had almost silenced the battery of many an ortho-
dox pulpit on the subject of future eternal punishment.
The specious writings of ‘Storrs, Dobney, Hudson, and .
others, had fallen with a half-stunning effect upon the
orthodox world; and while not a few “doubted where-
unto this would grow,” Dr. Mattison, true to his antece-
dents, “dared to beard the lion in his den.” Not only
did his pulpit glow with the fervor of his burning words
in behalf of the old faith, but- plying his keen logic
through the press, he met the ill-renowned author of the
new heresy in a pen-contest which clearly showed the
strength of his own position and: the weakness of his
opponent’s.

Of this controversy with Mr. Storrs we have not the
particulars; but enough is known to assure us of Dr.
Mattison’s invincible determination and well-earned suc-
cess. During the last ten years of his life, he made this,
at various times, a prominent subject of pulpit discourse,
delivering now a series of sermons, and now a course of
lectures, the substance of which he at length embodied in
‘his able work on ‘‘ The Immortality of the Soul.” This
-sterling volume, though not equal in its arguments from
Reason and Nature, to Bishop Clarke’s ‘‘ Man all Immortal,”
presents the “ Scripture Doctrine of Immortality,” with gur-
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH. 117

passing ability and tact. Dr. Mattison, above most other
men, had made himself familiar with the sophistries of
the annihilationists and the ever-shifting phases of their
progresswe theology; and having a constitutional adapta-
tion of mind to deal with such subjects, he proved him-
self an anatomist of the highest skill in their dissection.
No one can read part first of the volume referred to,
without being at once satisfied of this. Some months be-
fore his death, acting upon the advice of friends, he pub-
lished this portion of the book separately and in cheap
form, as containing the best refutation extant, for popular
use, of the errors against which it was aimed.
During his pastoral life in Jersey City, he became
greatly interested in the subject of popular amusements
as practiced by members of the Cliurch. Deeply grieved
at the facts that came to his knowledge, he felt called upon
to preach one or more sermons, in which he sought to
“lift up a standard” against this in-rushing tide of world-
liness. Accustomed to do with his might whatsoever his
hand found to do, these discourses combined the boldest
denunciations, the most pointed appeals, and the tenderest
admonitions, with the most convincing arguments drawn
from the Bible, and from the early faith and practice of
the Church. No little sensation was the result, but it was
a wholesome sensation. His thoughts soon took the form
of a stirring pamphlet of ninety-six pages, the sale of
which was rapid and extensive. In general, ita appearance
118 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

was hailed by the press with words of the highest commen-
dation ; yetit did not wholly pass without criticism. The
editor of the Zvening Journal, a secular daily of Jersey
City, was among those who called in question its positions.
Considering that the pamphlet was an “ Appeal to Meth-
odists,” and that the editor was not a Methodist, nor a
professing Christian of any kind, his strictures, many
would think, demanded but little notice, if any at all.
Dr. Mattison, however, being on terms of personal friend-
ship with the editor, and knowing that he was in a position
to neutralize much of what he had said and written,
deemed it his duty to reply. This led to an extended
discussion in the columns of the Jourual, in which the
pamphleteer by fresh arguments, and new pungent illus-
trations, triumphantly vindicated the teachings of his
pamphlet. The editor, though acknowledging “ the very:
able arguments of his opponent,” was not indeed convinced,
but a discerning Christian public did not fail to see where
the truth lay. a

Any portraiture of Dr. Mattison would not be perfect,
which should omit a notice of his encounter with Rev.
Edward D. Bryan, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church,
Washington, New Jersey. A full account of this, is given
in-a remarkably spicy pamphlet, entitled “‘A Defense of
American Methodism,” etc. This ‘‘ Defense,” was called
out by the following circumstances: Dr. Mattison attended
a Centenary meeting at thé place named, October 10,
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH. 119

1866, and made a speech in the M. E. Church, giving a
sketch of the rise, progress, and present condition of
Methodism in this country, and of the elements of its won-
derful yrowth and prosperity. Of this speech some one
gave a report to Rev. Mr. Bryan, who felt it to be his duty
to repel what, accepting the report as true, he considered
an attack upon his own Church; and accordingly he de-
voted two sermons upon two successive Sabbaths to a
review of the Centenary speech. The author of the speech
hearing of this review, opened’a correspondence withthe
reviewer, in’ which he said, ‘Please state to me in brief.
the points reported to you to which you demur, and the
grounds of your dissent; or, if disposed to be entirely
frank and brotherly in the matter, send me the manuscripts
of your two sermons in review of my speech.” To this
Mr. Bryan replied in a long letter which made no reference
to either of the above requests, but contained statements
and inuendoes thatso shrewd adisputant as Dr. Mattison
would not fail to turn with tremendous force against him.
This he did on Thursday evening, December 6th, from the
same pulpit where two months before; he had delivered
his Centenary address. After glancing at the origin of
the meetiug, and reading the correspondence from the
original manuscripts, several hundred printed copies of
the same were distributed among those present, in order
that they might the better understand and appreciate the
pending rejoinder. Then followed a discourse two hours
120 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

and three-quarters in length, a discourse to which a large
audience listened with intense and unflagging interest
and which was thoroughly exhaustive, of the subject in
hand. ‘Never was surgeon’s knife wielded with more con-
‘sumate skill, or more perfect success. . Yet there was in it so
much.of Christian frankness, courtesy, and kindness, min-
gled with an unavoidable severity, that neither Mr. Bryan
nor his numerous friends could find just occasion for
offense.

It had been his misfortune to commit the threefold mis-
take of replying to garbled: statements of Dr. Mattison’s
address; of estimating Methodism in general by what he
saw in his own particular locality; and of not knowing in
advance, the real-character of the antagonist to whom he
threw down the gauntlet. His fellow pastor in the same
borough at that time, Rev. William Day, as well as the
writer subsequently, found in him a true gentleman and
Christian, to whose lack of caution, rather than any undue
denominational bigotry, is to bp traced a contest in which
he became the chief sufferer.

Among the most brilliant displays which Dr. Mattiscn
gave of his controversial powers, were those witnessed
during the last three years of his life, in the New York
Preachers’ Meeting. Here in presence of the best talent
of the Church, his skill in debate, combining a thorough
self-command with a perfect mastery of his subject, often
found its highest stimulus and grandest opportunity. The
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH, 121

exciting discussions on perfect love,’ and ‘ human de-
pravity,” to mention no others, called forth his keenest
weapons of assertion and argument; of figures and facts;
of illustrations and proofs; of exegesis and application.
The extreme pungency with which he would thrust at some
opponent’s well-wrought theory, causing its suddencollapse,
was now and then mistaken for personal acrimony. Thus
acorrespondent of Zion’s Herald took occasion about that
time to write in substance, that it was “Dr. Mattison’s
misfortune, to hold every one who differed with him in
opinion as his personal enemy.” No wonder he felt
deeply grieved and wounded at this unbrotherly misrepre-
sentation. Nothing could have been further from the
truth. Among all the positive men and masterly contro-
versialists within the range of our knowledge, we have
never known one so free from the quality here ascribed
to Dr. Mattison as himself. Indeed, if he was remark-
able for anything, it was for a spirit of personal forbearance
and kindness toward opppoents, the very opposite of this
quality. Weare happily able just at this point, to give
the unsought testimony of one who was accustomed to
press him with the sharpest weapons of debate, on a vexed
question, but never to the least interruption of their mu-
‘tual friendship. We refer to Rev. A. E. Ballard, of the
New Jersey Conference, who writes as follows: ‘Our
views on the subject of Bible holiness were radically
different, and different in a style which, if Dr. Mattison
122 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH.

had not been a large hearted, noble man, would have
made our friendly intimacy an impossibility. I do not
remember that we ever met without controverting this
subject, and that too, in personal’‘as well as doctrinal forms.
There wasno hesitation on the part of either of us, in
public or private, in bringing to bear the sharpest possible
words upon the question. At one of our camp meetings
he had preached his own peculiar views in a style of splen-
did oratory that captivated the people, and left them
strongly in favor of the ideas he had presented. It was
made my duty to follow him, and as the only mode of
counteracting what he had said that occurred to me, I pro-
-posed that we should test the question by a personal appli-
cation of the atonement for the production of holiness in
his heart, then and there. The feeling with which-he
received this public challenge, can be best illustrated by
the fact that he declined numbers of pressing invitations
from our most prominent ministers, to spend the Sabbath
with them in their splendid churches, and. accepted mine
to preach at a quarterly meeting to a congregation -of
hundreds, upon the theme of which I was never weary,
the ‘Immortality of the Soul.’

In regard to the spirit with which Dr. Mattison conducted
his controversies, he was -by many of his brethren entirely
misunderstood. The unsparing keenness of his logic. was
mistaken for aseerbity of temper; his exposure of incon-
sistency in his opponent for personal malice; and his per-
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH. 123

sistent opposition to what he believed to be an error for
invincible stubbornness. Yet nothing was further from
the real fact than these suppositions, and few more kindly
hearted men than he, ever entered the lists of an ecclesias-
tical tournament. Personally, an opponent was as dear
to him as a sympathizer, and his warm regards were as
freely offered to the one as to the other.

His sense of humour was both keen and sweet. It was’
never employed without a practical object, and seldom
failed to strike strong blows at whatever it was aimed, yet
so as that the most sensitive were not offended. In the
evening of the day on which he accompanied me to the
quarterly meeting referred to above, as we sat up toa
late hour discussing the practical experiences of the doc-
trine of holiness, when I suggested that I had sometimes
thought he enjoyed the blessing but that his theology had
darkened the consciousness ‘of its existence, he paused a
moment, and then asked if a person who sometimes felt
the risings of anger in his heart, was holy? Upon my
answering no, he replied, ‘Then I am not holy.’ After
another slight pause he added, ‘That is not the worst of
it’ I asked, ‘What is not the worst of it?’ His face
lighted up with the play of his humour as he replied, ‘If
you judge by this rule, there are plenty of folks on your
side of the house, who are not holy either.’ The thrust
was severo, yet its spirit was such as I think generally
animated his controversial moods. —
124 CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITI. |

At the opening of the Drew Seminary, when introducing
in my. presence, a brother to a western divine, he presented
him asa superior man, but one of the ‘New Divinity’
brethren. In the conversation which followéd, the brother
stated that poor as he was, he would give a large part of
his pittance, if the splendid talents of Dr. Mattison wore
only devoted to preaching the views of holiness which he
opposed, and added that it was saddening to him to see.so
mighty a man without its experience. The Doctor replied
in the pleasant style of which I have spoken, that he
believed the brother was sanctified, at least pretty nearly
so—vwas sanctified from the top of his head to his mouth,
and from the chin to the extremities, but of the intervening
space he must be permitted to doubt, as it was largely
consecrated to whiskers and tobacco !’”

Another quotation from the same letter, will further
illustrate Dr. Mattison’s aptness in retort, combined
with genuine good nature. “At our Centenary camp
meeting when he was expressing his attachment to the
Methodist Episcopal Church, a brother in the stand, asked
aloud about the years when hewas outside of her com-
munion. The Doctor instantly replied, that he had been
outside from conscitntious motives which he could not
there explain; but that he had always loved the Church;
and spoken of her interms of affection; thathe had made
a mistake in leaving her; and then turning to the brother,
he added, “I had more:love for her than I think you
CONTENDING EARNESTLY FoR THE FAITH. 125

would have had under the same circumstances, for I had
the grace to repent and come back on probation, which it
is doubtful if you would have done.’

The humor placed the Doctor right before the people,
and yet left no cause for offense to the brother who had
called it out.”

A brief paragraph from an editorial in the Newark Daily
Advertiser, on the day following his death, will be a fitting
close to this chapter. ‘“ Within his own denomination he
has been long known as @ controversialist, because of his
disposition to expose and rebuke erroneous opinions and
dogmas, and the skill and power with which he did it.
He was however, by no means harsh in disposition, but
frank, genial, and kind. He levelled the bolts of his
logic, which were often annihilating, and of his invective
and sarcasm, rather at the error and the sin, than at
the individual.”
CHAPTER III.

IN THE PULPIT.
\

“(| TUDY to show thyself approved unto
/) God, a workman that needeth not: to
se 7\"X be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
\\ of truth.” Not more carefully did Timothy
ee of the first century heed this apostolic counsel
or more diligently fulfil it than did Hiram Mat-

: tison of the nineteenth. In the pulpit not less

   
 

than elsewhere he was ‘a tower of strength”—“a bright —

particular star.” “His eloquence was not of the flashy
type which astonishes and dazzles for a moment and then
expires in a deeper darkness, but an eloquence which at
once attracted, instructed, and edified. It consisted not
in simple word-painting, or startling tropes and figures, or
strained flights of fancy; it was rather the eloquence of
vigorous well-digested thought, expressed in words of
peculiar fitness, and enforced with an energy which
showed how fully the preacher’s heart suffused his
thought, and which at times was well nigh irresistable.
IN THE PULrIT. 127

This was true of his preaching not only on great
occasions, but often in his stated ministrations also. Nor
did there seem to be any decline of his pulpit power in
the years of his second half-century ; in fact the grandest
sermons of his life were preached within the three years
last preceding his death.

Could the mute walls and pews of Trinity church,
Jersey City, and the tented groves of Warwick, Sing Sing,
Barnsboro’ and Morristown, but speak, they would tell
of “thoughts that breathed and words that burned,”
uttered with a God-inspired eloquence by the lips of him
of whom we write.

Dr. Mattison evinced the utmost deliberation in entering

upon his pulpit duties, and was free from all ostentation
of manner. His frail appearance; serious, half-pensive
countenance; and modest tones and gestures, while fore-
stalling all flippant criticism in his hearers, led them if
strangers, to expect far less than his reputation had prom-
ised; but he seldom failed in the end to redeem the
largest pledges thus given. His habit was to use “notes”
in the pulpit, which sometimes produced a degree of awk-
wardness, by restrainiug that erectness of posture and
freedom of movement, which are so desirable in a public
speaker; but these notes were far less extensive than the
hearer would infer from the quantity of paper used. He
wrote them in a large, full hand, but in general with
go much brevity as to render them unintelligible to any
128 IN THE PULrIT.

‘

besides himself. His preaching was eminently Scriptural
each position being thoroughly fortified with printed proof-:
texts usually cut from a cheap copy of the Bible and
pasted on his brief. He seldom attempted to commit
anything to memory, but very much of what he read.

clung to him with a tenacity which enabled him to quote.

it with almost literal exactness. His sermons were freely

illustrated with facts and incidents which he had gather-.
ed in his reading or observation, and of which he remind-

ed himself by a word or at most a broken sentence in
his brief. He strongly opposed the reading of sermons
in Methodist pulpits, and was scarcely less opposed to
delivering them memoritor. Whatever necessity may
exist with some for either of these practices—and such
such necessity is almost always more imaginary than real
—it certainly had no existence in his case.

His thoughts crystalized into words and sentences of

the highest transparence and beauty, the instant they |

sought expression, and without the least apparent effort.
Many of those sermons which. fell from his: lips in-a
purity and gracefulness of diction that fitted them at
once for the. press, and which moved his hearers by their
mighty eloquence as a strong wind sways the trees of
the forest, had cost him but a few hours preparation,
and ‘were utterly unstudied except as to their leading
thoughts. _In this respect there are but few preachers
who. can with safety. : attempt to imitate-him.
Fe IN THE PULrIt. 129-

There were several prominent characteristics of Dr.
Mattison’s preaching to which we would call special at-.
tention. One was its outspoken orthodory. This applies
not only to the doctrinal truths uttered by him, but also
to the mode of their presentation. There was no strain-
ing after new and far-fetched forms of statement. He
was wont to speak of depravity, conversion, the witness of
the Spirit, growth in grace, the resurrection and judg- .
ment, heaven and hell, very much as the fathers did
before him. He “declared all the counsel of God’’—the
severer no less than the milder truths of that counsel— —
with a frankness and fidelity which challenged the respect
of all his hearers even though it might offend some.

Another noticeable feature of his preaching was its
perfect clearness. If perspicuity be a fundamental quality
of good speaking, as the rhetoricians tell us, then he
must be set down in this respect as a very model in the
pulpit. No one was ever puzzled to understand either
what he said or what he meant. He strictly followed
that advice of the Discipline: ‘Take care not to ramble, |
but keep to your text and make out what you take in
hand.”

His perfect naturalness of manner is also worthy of no-
tice. You saw him in the pulpit as you saw him else-
where—plain, artless, unaffected, simple, a true son of .
nature in voice and gesture. He assumed no affected
tones, and put on no disgusting airs. ;
130 IN THE PULPIT.

How much these chief qualities of his preaching had
to do with his extensive popularity we need not pause to
calculate, but the facts in the case convey a lesson which
every minister of Christ may well consider. That lesson
is that no toning down of simple truth; no assumption of
great profundity; and no affectation of delivery, is essen-
tial to a commanding pnlpit influence even among the
masses, though these may sometimes be the price of a
fictitious popularity. Dr. Mattison while widely popular
among all classes in the pulpit, was at the farthest possible
remove from either the fop or the clown.

What we have thus written will be more than justified
by the following facts and illustrations. Several years
ago a well-known clergyman was engaged to supply
Henry Ward Beecher’s pulpit in his absence. The usual
hour of service came but no preacher made his appear-
ance. The delay became painful, and the officers of the
Church were at their wits ends to know how to relieve
the embarrassment. Locking over the congregation, they
saw sitting there a man of slender person and thoughtful
countenance, presenting, as they fancied, the appearance
of a clergyman. Learning upon inquiry that such was
the fact, they took the risk of inviting him to occupy the
pulpit and address the waiting but impatient congregation
that thronged the church. He consented, and with no
little anxiety they watched the result. ‘Will he abuse
our courtesy ? “or, will he justify our bold adventure” ?
IN THE PULPIT. 131

were some of the questions with which their thoughts
busied themselves. As he proceeded with the service,
however, their anxieties were completely put to rest, and
when he finished, not only they, but the vast congrega-
tion, felt that there had stood before them no mean
substitute for the renowned pastor.of Plymouth Church.
That was Dr. Mattison’s introduction to Mr. Beecher’s
pulpit, but was not by any means the only time he occu-
pied it; on several subsequent occasions he was warmly
welcomed there by the pastor and his people.

Dr. Wm. G. Lord of Newark, N. J., thus describes
his preaching in that city: “He came to Newark in the
winter of 1845 comparatively a stranger; but a sermon
he preached on ‘The glorious gospel of the blessed God’
—a sermon of such rare beauty, eloquence, and power,
as almost to electrify the people—soon made him known
as a prince among pulpit orators. Afterwards he
preached, in the Clinton Street M. E. church, a series of
sermons on the Trinity. They were sermons indeed,
logical and surpassingly eloquent, They were greatly ad-
mired and added much to his reputation. Rev. Dr. Scott,
then pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, heard
him, and expressed his profound admiration, saying ‘that
he had never heard anything that surpassed it.’ He
preached a sermon from Phillippians ii: 6, ete, ‘Who
being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be
equal with God,’ etc. Never did we hear anything to
‘132 “IN THE: PULPIT,

‘transcend this; it was superlatively beautiful. He ‘show-
‘ed himself to be a workman that needeth not to ‘be
ashamed.’ He quoted, ‘And ‘they shall call his name
‘Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is God -with us.’
‘Looking up he said, ‘We thank thee Gabriel for this
‘translation.’ The effect was electrical.”

The following graphic account by Rev. A. E. Ballard,
‘of his singular introduction to Dr. Mattison will be read
with the interest it deserves, and will further illustrate
his commanding ‘powers in the pulpit. “My first ac-
‘quaintance with Dr. Mattison commenced ’at the session
of our Conference, (New Jersey,) held at Mount Holly in
1845. He was a tall, pale, quiet looking man, with a
few little books written by himself for sale. The man
attracted me, but nobody with whom I associated knew

‘anything about him. ‘The wonder as to who he was be-
came stronger every day, but his modest, reticent manner

precluded the questioning of curiosity, and there was no
-other basis upon which to ask a question. The final con-
‘clusion was that he was probably a colporteur, who was
endeavoring by his presence at the Conference to obtain
the recognition and favor of the preachers in the prosecu-
‘tion of his work. During the progress of the Conference
I accompanied Rev. J. W. Jackson to an evening service
‘at Vincentown. While on our way to the place we saw
‘before us, walking slowly, the tall slender form of our
supposed eolporteur. -Neither of us felt like preaching,
IN THE PULPIT. 133

and we benovolently concluded that as he did not likely
.often get.an opportunity to preach we would offer it to -
‘him for that evening. We determined not to be precipi-
tate with the request, but to ascertain first whether he
was a preacher at all, and then judge by his conversation
whether he was competent to take our places. If he
should prove, as we feared he would, dry and uninterest-
ing, we could supplement his effort ourselves and make
it pass off in that way. We gave him an invitation to
ride with us which he at once accepted, and at our first
hint that we might possibly desire his aid for the evening
in the pulpit, he volunteered to preach. ‘We looked at
each other in some dismay at this prompt acceptance of
our implied offer, and ventured to inquire if he was a
stationed preacher anywhere. He immediately responded
in the negative, and gave us no further information about
himself, He conversed but little and so afforded us no
opportunity to judge him in that way; and our mental
conclusion was that our first supposition was correct, and
that he had accepted our offer so readily because he so
seldom obtained one. In ‘this way only could we account
for his apparent eager willingness to preach for us.
When a few moments of privacy were secured, we settled
it that as his exercises would probably be a failure we
ourselves would read the hymns, pray, and follow him
with an exhortation, which we supposed would sufficiently
enliven the services to make them pass without seri-
134 IN THE PULPIT.

ously dissatisfying the people with our substitution.
When he ascended the pulpit he selected and read his
hymn without the least reference to us, a proceeding
which we thought savored of the coolest assurance. He
did not read remarkably well, which only deepened our
previous belief as to his ability, and we began to wish
we had not invited him. His movements showed that he
intended to offer the ‘opening prayer himself. We felt
that we had done him a special favor in giving him a
chance to preach at all, and this cavalier-like treatment
was felt as almost unendurable, especially in view of the
fact that his sermon would undoubtedly need some help
from us to eke it out. He began his prayer in the ele-
vated style peculiar to himself and fastened our attention
at once. A moment more and his fervor lit up the mag-
nificent yet simple beauty of his sentences with a splen-
dor that forced us half from our knees in pure astonish-
ment. Open-eyed we gazed upon each other in most’
undevotional confusion. As the prayer proceeded the
the thoughts rose higher and higher, carrying us along
with them until we seemed to stand before the throne it-
self worshipping face to face. He then announced for
his theme, ‘The immortality of the soul’. Whoever may
have heard him. discuss this topic is aware that both in
matter and in manner he rivalled the first speakers of
the nation; and our feelings may be more easily im-
agined than described when we contrasted our first
IN THE PULPIT. 135

portraiture of the man with the sermon which he- de-
livered on that evening. It is superfluous to add that
we did zot exhort after his preaching, and also, that when
he called upon us to close the services we forthwith pro-
nounced the benediction. This incident formed the begin-
ning of an intimacy that was always accepted by myself
as an honor, and which lasted to the close of life.”

Many of our readers are aware that the Centenary Camp
Meeting held near Morristown, N. J., in the summer of
1866, was rendered especially memorable by Dr. Mattison’s
great sermon on Sabbath morning. It was doubtless one
of the most remarkable discourses of modern times. A
somewhat extended account of it, therefore, will not be
considered out of place. We have been favored with two
descriptions of it, in both of which we are sure the reader
will be deeply interested. ‘or the first we are indebted to
Rev. Henry J. Hayter who writes:

‘When the congregation led by Philip Phillips our ‘sweet
singer,’ had sung the second hymn, Dr. Mattison arose
and announced his text Eph. iv: 30, ‘And grieve not the
Holy Spirit, ete. I thought—we have the mind and the
spirit, (this I knew from his past history,) but what will
become.of his poor frail body? How can his voice reach
those on the outskirts, and hold their attention? Help
from above had been earnestly implored, and help came.
He had not uttered a half dozen sentences before all fear
about the people’s hearingvanishedfrommy mind. Every
136 IN THE PULPIT.

-one was chained. ‘All felt that the text was being enforced
‘by a master in Israel. ‘Truly on him was Elijah’s mantle.
‘His face was all aglow, his heart all on fire, his tongue
fully at the divine control. Cutloose from every impedi-
‘ment, ‘God made ‘him master of the situation. O! the
‘glory that seemed to clothe the-preacher! It was on the
whole assembly. Shouts ‘many, mighty, and glorious,
went up all over the encampment. Some shouted who
never shouted before. Tears—how they flowed! tears of
penitence, and tears of joy. O! the power that rested on
the encampment. It was a weight of glory. ‘“ What will
become of us?” said a good brother at my side. An hour
and a half had passed, but preacher and people were lost
to time. Still on he went, and higher still he mounted;
holy amazement seized-us. He talked like an angel, nay,
more, it was with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Thus he preached for an hour and fifty minutes; yet not
he; but God preached through him. The pressure seemed
to be more than we could bear. ‘Said an eminent layman
sitting by my side in the’stand, a man not easily carried
away, one too of fine literary ‘attainments, and who for
many years had-been a counselor in the Church (Col. 8.
£. “Headley,) placing his hand upon my knee, ‘O! if he
does not stop he'll kill us.”

A fuller description: is from the graphic pen of Rev. J.
Atkinson. ‘The leading ‘men and the best preachers of our
own Conference were there, and distinguished visitors from
IN THE PULPIT. 137

other Conferences. Among those who preached were
Bishop Janes, Rev. Dr. E. Wentworth, and Rev. Anthony
Atwood. Presious and powerful were the sermons of
. these and other messengers of the Churches.

Sunday morning, however, was the great occasion of the
meeting. It was not finally decided that Dr. Mattison
should preach until a short time before the hour of pub-
lic service. Before entering the pulpit, he cast himself
upon the gracious help of that Spirit concerning whose
office and work he was to preach, and then entering the
sacred place, he addressed himself to his great task.

The scene before the preacher, as he cast his eyes upon
his waiting audience, was grand and inspiring in a high
degree. The freshness and beauty of nature, the calmness
which shed a soothing spell upon the mighty throng, the
soft light of the mild heaven, playing upon the shimmering
branches ofthat delightful forest, the hush that rested
upon all the space devoted to worship, and the sea of faces
upturned before him, radiant with intelligence and pensive
with interest, were enough to profoundly impress and
move any speaker.

His text was, ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit af God _
which ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’ He
preached the Holy Spirit, and the §pirit filled the preacher,
and gave great unction to the word. There did not seem
to be any attempt todo a great.thing, yet the discourse
was .struck to the key of greatness. There was no
138 IN THE PULPIT.

straining after novelties or high wrought expressions. He
dealt in plain language touching the office of the Holy
Spirit as the Revealer and Awakener; as the author of
Regeneration; as the witnesser to Adoption; as the Hel-
‘per, Comforter and Sanctifier, and as the agent in our
Resurrection—the quickener of our mortal bodies. Sim-
ple and familiar was the plan of the discourse, yet it took
hold of the grandest and mightiest truths of a spiritual
religion, and the discussion was characterized by clear
statement, sharp logic, pungent thrusts at the conscience,
masterly appeals, and almost overwhelming power. A
few passages in the sermon showed his talent for contro-
versy. Qne of these was an assault upon Universalism,
in which he said that our God is not the hard, vindictive
God. of the Universalist, who will not forgive sin, but a
gracious and forgiving God. The Universalist maintains
that a sinner must be punished in this life for his sins, no
matter how earnestly or penitently he may pray to be
forgiven; ‘but,’ said the preacher, ‘many years ago, God
forgave all my sins, and he has not punished me for one of
them since.’

He dwelt upon grieving the Holy Spirit, and vividly
described the ways in which men grieve him. . Among the
rest, he showed how Christians grieve the Spirit when
they refuse to speak, or to give expression in the old
fashioned ‘amen’ to their feelings in meeting, and he
powerfully urged upon professors of religion to not grieve
‘IN YHE PULPIT. 139

the Holy Spirit more, and then said, ‘All of you who will
here covenant with God not to grieve the Spirit again, rise
upon your feet,’ and at once hundreds, if not thousands,
rose.

He described the terribleness of the grieving of the
Spirit by the sinner, in a manner that was enough to
startle almost any neglector of salvation. Never shall I
forget the illustration he employed or the manner in
which it was delivered. It was pathetic and effective in
a degree seldom surpassed, if even equalled. ‘Suppose,’
said he, ‘a man in some arctic region with only’a little
smouldering fire on which his life depends, should in-
stead of carefully guarding and adding fuel to it, begin
to stamp it out!’ The illustration of course was wrotght
out as, under the influence of his thought and his inspira-
tion, Dr. Mattison could do it, and the application of it to
the sinner stamping out his only light and hope was truly
powerful.

It was a great sermon. None who heard it, certainly,
would dissent from this opinion. We thought at the
time, and still think, after almost three years have passed
and the preacher has gone to his account, that it was one
of the greatest sermons that ever fell from human lips.
We do not say it was ¢he greatest, for no man would be
justified in making such a declaration of any sermon,
however great; but having heard some of the greatest
preachers of the present time, including Simpson, Beech-

.
*

140 IN THE PULPIT.

er, Durbin, Fuller, Chapin, and Hannah, Punshon, and
Hall of England, we cannot see, from what we can judge
of the capabilities of a mortal, commissioned, trained and
baptized by the Holy Spirit for this work, how, in all the
elements of greatness a sermon could much exceed that
which we are describing. In mere word polish it might
be excelled, though in that it was not wanting ; in sublim-
ity of imagination other sermons may have surpassed it;
in some other particulars possibly.it might .suffer ‘by com-
parison; but as a whole, combining clearness, strength,
force, logic, appeal, illustration, pathos, with that indes-
cribable power which a preacher wields over an audience
‘when his arm is made strong by the arm of the mighty
God of Jacob, we rank it.among the gréat productions of
the pulpit.

The effect was great. Strong men bowed. in tears.
After the sermon, one who for many years has occupied,a
high place in our ministry said in our hearing to the
preacher, ‘That illustration of stamping out the fire almost
killed me.’ It was estimated that on that day.sixty or
more souls were born into the kingdom of God. The in-
fluence of that sermon will live-forever. To have preach-
ed that-once, in that manner, to that audience, and then
not preach again, would-have.been richly worth a life of
preparation. ;

A few months after the close of that ‘camp meeting I
was called to see.a member of my. charge who. was pass-
IN THE PULPIT. 141
ing down into the valley. She was a woman of apprecia-
‘tive mind, and a niece of the late Rev. Dr. Magie of
Elizaheth. She heard Dr. Mattison’s sermon at the camp
meeting at Morristown. Now, she was dying. Her
‘mind went back in sweet memories to that blessed hour.
She spoke with much interest of the sermon, and of the
blessing she received in hearing it, and as the swell of the
river cast the cold spray of death upon her, the memory
of that discourse was like a bright angel to her spirit.
‘No doubt many whose immortal interests were touched
‘and colored by that effort of the preacher, are now with
him ‘ within the veil.’

It was an exceptional sermon, not only with respect to
‘its composition and effect, but also with respect to the ex:
perience of the preacher while delivering it. His mind
took hold of ‘the powers of the world to come,’ and
his soul seemed rapt with the glory ineffable. Said he,
while preaching, ‘I feel the hallelujahs within me,’ and
also, ‘I am so happy I cannot reason,’ Subsequently he
‘said to me, in substance, ‘I am not to be judged by that
sermon. Only on one or two occasions did I ever preach
as I did then. JI felt as if I were raised about ten feet
above the stand and projected about fifteen feet in ‘front,
and then God said to me, ‘Wield the thunder-bolts.’ And
wield them he did. Right and left he hurled truths into
that throng of listeners which fell like successive bolts of
thunder. ; ,
142 IN THE PULPIT.

He preached with a sense of the special help of the

Holy Spirit. Referring to his asking the people to rise,

he said to-me, ‘That was not by design, but as I was urg-
ing them to not grieve the Spirit more, I felt it suggested
to me, ‘Commit them,’ and I did so.’ Who that beheld
that solemnly impressive spectacle can ever forget it?
Under no circumstances could any but a great man
have produced such an effort. Webster’s great reply to
Hayne was delivered on a great occasion—an occasion
full of lofty incitement and inspiration, and the majestic
orator rose with the wave of the magnificent hour; yet
that wave could have borne none but a Webster to such
grandeur and triumph; so no inferior man in Dr. Matti-
son’s place, on that beautiful Sabbath morning, with its
splendid concurrence of auspicious influences, could have
attained such a sublime mastery of the occasion. A
strong intellect in its full radiance, poured out its last re-
serve of light and power; a mighty spirit wrestled in its
utmost vigor with a vast congregation of immortals, to
sway them unto God. None but such a man could have
preached such a sermon.
' The lips of the preacher are sealed now in the silence
of his distant tomb, but that eloquent voice which then
entranced so many ears still echoes in many a yet throb-
bing heart ; for wherever the thousands who heard that
sermon are scattered, the memory of that hour and of its
impressions must be fresh and enduring.”
OHAPTER IV.

AUTHORSHIP,

RITE a book,” was one of Dr. Mattison’s
favorite apothegms in addressing young

   
   

ministers. Like most of his other sayings
‘a3? and doings it was a reflection of his own
: individuality. There was in it also a dis-
ye avowal of exclusive ability in himself to do that
which he advised his brethren to do also. In his
honest simplicity he believed that even the humblest of
them might accomplish, with at least fair success, what
he himself had achieved. He never ceased to “look unto
the rock whence he was hewn and to the hole of the pit
whence he was digged;” and remembering his own strug-
gles and successes he sought to stimulate others to like
efforts. But he forgot that some men are born to author-
ship as others are born to the sceptre or the lyre. He
himself certainly came under this rule. The pen was as
natural to him as the bow or the sling was to the ancient
144 AUTHORSHIP.

Benjamites. Strongly bolieving in the power of the
press for good or for evil, he made free and constant use
of it to aid the one and oppose the other. In this respect
he was aclose imitator of John Wesley. With but slight
qualification it may be said that whatever he thought was
committed to writing, and whatever he wrote found its
way to the press. Large portions of his sermons, deliver-
ed from very brief notes, were afterward reproduced in
some form in his ever multiplying publications. These
publications embraced a range from the little Sunday-
‘school card to the stately volume, and were usually fresh
in matter and always spirited in style.

His first book,—“The Trinity and Modern Arianism,”
—and by some considered his best, was issued in 1848.
Having characterized it-elsewhere we need only add, that
it is a masterly argument in defense of the Divinity. of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which can never become obsolete
till the dawning of

——That day supreme,
‘When none his Godhead shall deny,—
His sovereign majesty blaspheme,—
Or count him ‘less than the Most High.”

In the same year he began his publication of “Tracts
for theTimes,” which grew the next year into a monthly
paper of unpretending size title and appearance, but the
contents-of which were exceedingly piquant. The origin
and fate of this enterprise are set forth in a, preceding
chapter and need not be repeated.
AUTHORSHIP. 145

But two years elapsed from this date, when in 1846 he
became known to the public as the author of a work on
Astronomy accompanied by large Astronomical Maps, the
merits of which may be best inferred by their rapid sale
‘and general use in the schools and academies of the
land.

Following up this style of authorship so successfully
‘begun, he soon after issued his Elementary Astronomy;
in 1850 edited a new and improved edition of Burrit’s
‘Geography of the Heavens; and in 1853 brought out his
High School Astronomy, all of which became favorites
in educational circles, and gave to their author a national
reputation. Rev. G. L. Taylor says, ‘“‘ His three or four
works on Astronomy and Uranography, have done more
than any other works ever published in this country, to
bring down Astronomy from the clouds and popularize
it as a study for youth in schools.” The Newark Daily
Advertiser, in an editorial on his death the day after its
occurence, contained this paragraph: “Dr. Mattison also
devoted considerable attention to science, and his text
books on Astronomy are well known and used throughout
the country. In our schools and academies they are
probably in more general use than any other books on
the subject.”

Next we find him associated with Professor J. B. Wood-
bury of New York in bringing out a music book, ‘The
Lute of Zion.” In his preface he says, ‘‘ Although the
146 AUTHORSHIP.

name of the writer appears in the title as having ‘assisted’
Prof. Woodbury, such assistance relates solely to the selec-
‘tions for the departments named, and to the getting out of
the work. ++ It should be expressly understood that
the writer makes no pretensions whatever in the depart-
ment of music.” That was doubtless true in 1853, but
afterward he gave such attention to the subject as, guided
by his native genius, and aided by members of his family,
enabled him to compose several pieces of real merit and
beauty. The original ‘Lute of Zion,” became at once
popular, and was extensively adopted by the choirs of our
Churches, which led him to issue subsequently an enlarged
edition, with the altered title of, “New Lute of Zion.”
This, like its predecessor, was largely patronized, and is
still a favorite with many choirs,

His work on “Spirit Rappings,” noticed in a previous
chapter, was published in 1854 and had a wide circulation.
Two years later his controversy with Dr. Perry occurred,
being at first conducted through the columns of the Chris-
tian Advocate and Journal, and afterward by means of pam-
phlets on either side, the successive issues of which were
eagerly read, especially by the Methodist public. Of this
controversy we have spoken more at length elsewhere.

A tune book “designed for use on all occasions of social
worship,” was published by him in 1859 under the name
of “Sacred Melodies,” and was happily adapted to the
object intended,
AUTHORSHIP. 147

In 1859 he sent forth ‘his “Impending Crisis,” a stout
pamphlet of one hundred and thirty-six pages. No pro-
duction of his pen ever equalled this in the cool daring of
its facts and the impassioned eloquence of its appeals.

The next few years were the years of his sorest trials,
in which his contributions to the press were confined
chiefly to newspaper articles, till in 1864 he issued
his ‘‘Minister’s Pocket Manual,” which in several im-
portant respects excelled all previous publications of
the kind.

His work on the “Immoriality of the Sovl,” bears date
of the same year; avd less than ‘wu pou after he pub-
lished his “ Resurrection of the Body,” the two volumes
being of uniform size and style. These were the two most
elaborate works of his life, and were intended to form part
of a series which he was very ambitious to complete;
but “ God’s ways are not as our ways.” Of the former of
these works we have already had occasion to speak; of
the latter Bishop Simpson in his charming Introduction
says: “I commend this volume to the Christian public
for the research, ability, and fidelity displayed by the
author. I believe it to be the best work now published in
small compass for the information of the general reader.”

During the same year, 1866, he also issued “ Select Les-
sons from the Holy Scriptures,” intended especially for
the use of Sunday Schools in responsive reading, but
equally convenient for use in general worship; and like-
148° AUTITORSHIP.

wise his “ Defense of American Methodism,” the occasion
of which has been stated in another place.

His timely treatise on “ Popular Amusements” soon
followed in 1867, and although of small size and unpre-
tending claims, its wholesome influence was widely felt.

The year1868 was the last of his life, and was perhaps
the busiest, and the most prolific of results in the line of
authorship. Besides editing and bringing through the
press.the work on “ Perfect Love,” he wrote and publish-
ed “ Mary Ann Smith,” and a surprising number of other
works on. Romanism, from the tract of a few pages to the
heavy pamphlet. The last of these was passing through
the press at the time of his death. He was also engaged’
in writing a treatise on ‘‘ Depravity in its Relation to entire
Sanctification,” and had prepared the outlines of several
other works on great theological questions, but was
stricken down in the midst of his cherished plans and ac-
tivities. ‘

But even this detailed account of his writings must
fail to convey anything like a complete idea of his literary
labors. If to the works enumerated there should be added.
his poetic effusions, some of them containing lines worthy:
even of a Bryant, and his numerous contributions to the
periodical press both as editorials and correspondence, the
list would be swelled by several stately volumes. Among
the magazines and papers which at various times bore the
impress of his almost ubiquitaus-pen, may be mentioned
AUTHOKSHIP. 149.

o

the National Magazine, Ladies Repository, Methodist Quarterly
Review, Christian Advocate, the Northern, Western, North-
western, and California Christian Advocates, Northern Indepen-
dent, Zion's Herald, and Methodist, besides others both with-
in and without our own Church. Not unfrequently was
he a contributor to one or more, perhaps several of them,
while at the same time he was writing a book; attending
to his stated duties as pastor,; meeting engagements to
lecture and preach special sermons; and promptly answer-
ing his numerous correspondents.

In addition to all this he prepared and published
various Church and Sunday school requisites, as, ‘‘ The
Baptismal Covenant,” “Full Membership Covenant,”
“The Apostles’ Creed,” ‘‘The Lord’s* Prayer,” Rules of
the School,” etc., which he had printed in attractive form
on cards of proper size. Nor should the circumstance
be overlooked that he extensively advertised his various
works, inviting orders from purchasers many of which
were filled under his personal superintendence, and not
unfrequently with his own hands. _

The reader, no doubt, is ready to ask “How could he in
so short a time accomplish so much”? We confess to no
little embarrassment in attempting to answer the question.
Well as we knew Dr. Mattison and his habits, he was to
us’ in this respect a perpetual enigma, as we think he
must have been to all his friends. The quickest way to

dispose of the auesdon would be to say that he was an ex-
150 AUTHORSHIP.

traordinary man; but this would be to only shift the
difficulty, since many extraordinary men have failed to ac-
complish, even in a much longer life, all that he achieved.
The fact of his marvelously rapid execution in authorship,
with its accompanying explanation, may be best given in
the language of Rev. W. Hosmer, than whom no man
perhaps had better opportunities of learning the hidden
elements of his greatness. He says: ‘Few men could
do as much work as he could or do it so well, though he
never appeared to be in a hurry, and never complained of.
overwork. His editorial contributions were abundant.
The fertility of his pen was amazing. I have never known
his equal in that line. Nor was the rapidity with which
he composed at all detrimental to the excellence of his
writing, some of his best essays having been not only
spontaneous and unpremeditated, but thrown off so
quickly that I doubt if he long remembered that he ever
wrote them.” An incident furnished by Rev. J. 8S. Gilbert
will serve as a further illustration of the same thing. Dr.
Mattison having written his famous rejoinder to Father
Doane, as narrated in the last chapter of part first, said to
Mr. Gilbert who was in waiting for it: ‘“ There, you have
seen what few Methodists preachers have, that is, how I
write. When I have anything to write, I just write it—go
ahead, and only write once, never revise or change.”

It is plain that Dr. Mattison possessed a large constitu-
tional aptness for composition, and though his penmanship
AUTHORSHIP. 151

was neither rapid nor elegant, yet, being guided at once,
by a sort of intuition, to those lines of thought and forms
of expression best suited to the subject before him, he
much earlier reached the conclusion of his work, than
many who think and write with more rapidity but less °
certainty, thereby obliging a frequent revision of their
first imperfect compositions. He thus exemplified in a
remarkable degree the terse old adage, ‘‘ Make haste
slowly.”

To this natural aptness he added a strict economy of
time. With him life was more than a “fleeting show; ” it
was a fleeting reality. He cherished a profound conviction
that God had given him a great work to do for humanity,
and a short time in which to do it. Hence his plans
were deep and broad, embracing not only a great variety
of objects, but his entire life-time even in its smallest di-
visions. To him “vacation” was a stranger, and even the
pleasure of visiting friends was foregone, except as such
pleasure was the plain dictate of duty. Being called to
marry his son, Henry K. Mattison, he went to Barryville,
New York, August 17, 1868, to perform that service, which
he did the next day. All the son’s filial affection and
pride were awakened by the presence of the father in his
new, rural home, and he earnestly besought him to remain
afew days for needed rest and recuperation. Most men
weary from the heat, and excitement, and toil of city. life,
would have yielded to the fascination of that sequestered
é
152 AUTHORSIUIP.

spot, with its brooks and lakes, its fishes and birds; but
though he felt it all, there was a “higher law” that must
determine his course. ‘No, I cannot stay,” he said; “I
have not a moment’s time to spare. But a short time is
left for me to live, and I have more work on my hands
than I can do.”

This reply to the tender entreaties of filial veneration
and love, was made at a time when he who uttered it
was compelled by his extreme physical exhaustion, to rest,
upon a lounge during a portion of the single day which
he reluctantly stole from his many pressing engagements
elsewhere.

Did he shorten his days by these unremitting exertions ?
Very possibly; yet he was so constituted that work was
his recreation, activity his life. In no narrow sense he
could re-affirm the experience of his Master before him,
“My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that
sent me.” It is doubtful if an enforced activity would
not have produced a greater chafing to life than his in-
cessant over-working, as it seemed to some of his friends,
but which to him was a simple mingling of duty and
pleasure. Nothing would have tried his graces so much
as a long-continued disability to labor; and that which
the Church has been wont to look upon as a singularly
brief illness and a strangely sudden death, was but the
wise and- gracious ordering of him who “needeth not
that any should testify of man, for he knoweth what is in
AUTHORSHIP. 153

man.” In the letter of Rev. J. S. Gilbert a remark of.
Dr. Mattison’s is quoted which contains the motto of his
life. He says, ‘‘The next Sabbath, June 21st, he spent
in Newark preaching in Union St., at night. Ho also
spoke to our Sabbath-school in the afternoon. I called to
see him at the place where he dined, and asked him to
come and see our school. He responded at once, saying,
‘SWE MUST WOBK HERE AND REST HEREAFTER.”
CHAPTER Y.

DIVERSITY OF GIFTS.

a rule greatness is confined to some one
) particular line of thought or action, or
F at most to a very small number. In general

  
   

men are endowed by nature with a genius for
certain kinds of employment in which they may
achieve success, but beyond which they are
almost sure to fail. Hence it is deemed of the highest
importance for parents to study well the peculiar aptitude
of mind in their children for certain pursuits, before
marking out their future course of life. A mistake at
this point has often made life a drudgery, nay worse, an
utter failure.

Rarely does the world see a universal genius; but
there was something like an approach to it in our versatile
subject. He was such ‘a man” as Solomon describes,
who, “ through desire, having separated himself seeketh
and intermedleth with all wisdom.” Not only could he
DIVERSITY OF GIFTS. 155

do many things, but he was accustomed to do them well.
And herein appeared the breadth of his genius, without
which he never could have succeeded as he did, in his
manifold undertakings. Mere talent, which depends so
largely upon a high mental training, must have proved
insufficient to work out results so varied and excellent.

In his boyhood, as the reader has learned from the
first chapter, he displayed unusual inventive genius and
mechanical skill; and had he chosen an artizan’s life his
success, we think, would have been assured. Many will
recollect how much at home he was on the subject of
church architecture, of which he gave such ample proof
in a series of articles contributed to the National Magazine,
and how successfully his views were applied in several
church building enterprises of which he had personal
supervision. His large “Astronomical Maps,” drawn by
his own unpracticed hand, and evincing no small degree
of originality, justify the conclusion that his artistic skill,
properly cultivated, would have given him an honorable
place among practitioners of the liberal arts. As a
speaker he excelled, whether on the platform, in the pul-
pit, or on the floor of debate; whether addressing a de-
liberative body, a mass convention, or a Sunday-school.
Speaking to a Sabbath-school in Newark a few months
before his death, he said, ‘Your superintendent has
taken me at my weakest point in asking me fo talk to the
children,” a remark which at once showed his deep in-
om 4
156 DIVERSITY OF GIFTS.

terest in children, and playfully told of his ability to en-
tertain and instruct them. Nor did he evince less skill in
addressing adult assemblies in regard to the Sunday-

“&chool work, as is vividly remembered by those who at-
tended the various Conventions and Institutes at which he
spoke. His lectures on Astronomy, and sundry other
subjects gave proof of his superior talent for that style of
address, while his speeches on the floor of three successive
General Conferences, and the many before his own An-
nual Conferance, demonstrated his large powers of de-
bate. His addresses at Conference Anniversaries, ag on
other similiar occasions, showed how happily fitted he
was to the platform; and in his preaching he eminently
met the three important conditions of “ gifts, grace, and
usefulness.”

The wide range of his pulpit talents‘ was evidenced by
the great variety of topics with which he entertained his
congregations, and his readiness to meet the demands of
all occasions small and great, ordinary and special. “In
his own pulpit he was always heard from on every living
question of the hour, and no Methodist pulpit in New
York had more influence. His Thanksgiving day sermons
were generally as fully reported, often more so, in the
daily press, than those of any other pulpit, and they de-
served it, as examination shows.” *~ With but few ex-
ceptions, none of our chief ministers were called upon

 

« Rev. G.L. Taylor.
DIVERSITY OF GIFTS. 157

more frequently to lay corner stones and dedicate churches,
or to take a prominent part in the services ; and rarely
did he fail of success on such occasions either in the
preaching or the financial management. Rev. A. KE.
Ballard writes thus of his visits to the District over-which
he has presided the last four years: ‘‘He came down to
Bridgeton District during the Contenary year upon the
invitation of Rev. C. H. Whitecar, then presiding elder,
and delivered in the prominent towns of the District a
number of speeches which are still remembered by the
people as among the finest to which they had listened.
The press lauded them highly, and the most cultivated
men of all denominations as well as the common people,
could not say too much in their praise. He frequently
came down to preach the dedicatory sermons for our
churches. On these occasions his services were almost
juvaluable. The preaching was of the ablest and most
attractive character; the plans for raising money were as
nearly perfect as possible; and the manner in which they
were carried out was incomparable.

The Central Chapel at Bridgeton, and the church at
Tuckahoe were among those to which he contributed
efficient service, and among whose people his name will
not soon be forgotten.” i

To facilitate-the financial efforts of such occasions, he
kept on hand printed slips containing detailed suggestions
to the pastors and officers of the Churches, one or more of
158 DIVERSITY OF GIFTS.

which he sent by mail for their use preparatory to his
own arrival—a plan which showed his business-like
habits, and often produced the happiest effects upon the
collections. His varied powers as a speaker are described
‘as follows by one whose well-merited celebrity in the same
relation, must give more than ordinary weight to his
testimony: ‘“ Dr. Mattison was a very eloquent man, and
was susceptible of being wrought up by his emotion to
the very highest degree. Western New York is full of
traditions of his eloquence on great occasions, in open air
meetings and at dedications of churches ‘as well as in
times of revival. In debate he had a happy manner of
mingling logic with appeals to the emotional nature which
is quite unusual. An address delivered by him before
the New York Preachers’ Meeting on the subject of ‘ Pro-
tracted Meetings’ will be remembered by all who heard it
as illustrating this remark; an address which, though I
could not concur in its main doctrine, impressed me
strongly as an able and eloquent production. The brief
address delivered by Dr. Mattison at the funeral of Dr. 8.
Y. Monroe in Camden, N.J., was also of its kind most
appropriate, touching, and sublimely eloquent; and was
greatly blessed to the consolation and strengthening of
the family bereaved by that mysterious dispensation.””*
His genius for music and poetry is thus estimated by
the same friend: “He was no mean musician and com-

 

* Rev. J. M. Buckley.
DIVERSITY OF GIFTS. 159

posed and published many excellent pieces. He had
many of the elements of a poet, and at his funeral the
second hymn was of his own composition, of which a
poet of considerable reputation said that ‘there were
passages in it equal to anything in Thanatopsis.’”
Another, already several times quoted, makes the follow-
ing statement in which Dr. Mattison’s deep interest in
music, his talent for composing it, and his unaffected
simplicity in performing it among and with the people,
are pleasantly blended: ‘“ For several years past he had
visited Southern New Jersey at least .once in each year.
He enjoyed the camp-meetings and took an almost boyish
delight in mingling among the members of the Church as
they were gathered in small groups to sing. He blended
his fine and finely cultivated powers with their untrained
voices, and when his delicate ear would catch some new
musical intonation from the rapt expression of the singers,
his eyes would fairly flash with pleasure, while the waves
of religious feeling as they flowed from the associated do-
votion of himself and the people, would suffuse the same
eyes with triumphant tears. His music largely gave tone
to the camp-meeting exercises, and added very much to
their effectiveness.” The productions of his pen were
marked by the same astonishing variety as the uses to
which he applied his voice. He could write well on
almost all classes of subjects, theological, scientific, and
literary; abstruse or plain; metaphysical or practical ;
160 DIVERSITY OF GIFTS. ‘

grave or amusing. ‘Books seemed to grow like spon-
taneous productions out of every subject he took in hand ;
he talked books and wrote books almost without knowing
it.” Pamphlets, tracts, magazine articles, and newspaper
correspondence of all varieties, flowed fon his busy pen
with most surprising rapidity, naturalness, and ease. Rev.
J.M. Buckley writing of his versatility, says, “He could
lecture on science, preach, entertain a company with
anecdote, debate, write a grave treatise or a playful nar-
rative for children; and could turn from one subject to
another without any loss of momentum or interest.”

In business ability and tact he was excelled by- few.
The acquisition of extensive wealth would have been
almost certain had he devoted himself to secular pursuits:
As it was he accumulated a handsome estate by which his
surviving family are placed above embarrassment, a result
due to his energy and good management. Beginning his
itinerant life in very moderate circumstances which con-
tinued several years, he at length so “ gathered” as to
have something “‘ over,” and his capital steadily increased
year after year to the last. This increase resulted chiefly
fromthe sale of his many publications, concerning which
it has been said “that everything he ever published small
or great was remunerative.”* He wrote the contracts be-
tween his publishers and himself with his own hand; and
a few years before his death being in unusually feeble

 

* The same is also affirmed to be true of John Wesley’s writings.
DIVERSITY OF GIFTS. 161,

health he in the same way prepared his “last will and
testament.” It was a model of brevity and simplicity.
When he became convinced that he could live but a short
time, he requested that his friend, S. B. Ransom Esq.,
might be sent for, who on-coming and examining the will
pronounced it correct in every particular.

Did not the man who could do all this and do it so suc-
cessfully, possess a rare “diversity of gifts’? St. Paul
uses this phrase to denote the varied endowments of the
Corinthian Church regarded collectively, no individual
possessing more than one, or at most a very few of the
gifts designated in the context. And this has been the
rule in all ages with respect to both human and divine en-
dowments. 5

But there met in the one person of our distinguished
subject a ‘“ Diversity of Gifts,” which, industriously culti-
vated and used, fitted him for a far wider range of thought, .
activity, and usefulness, than is possible to mos} men.
CHAPTER YI.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

    
 

a>

> R. MATTISON’S grave demeanor, coupled
3 with his severe attention to work, not
unfrequently led to a misconception of his
y) real character in social and domestic life. In

fact some who only saw him without enjoying
his acquaintanee, were wont to regard him as
greatly deficient in the very qualities for which
he was remarkable. With no show of effort to make
himself agreeable, he at once interested all who came
within the cirele of his influence. No one could be in his
presence even for a short time, without being made to feel
at home; and to engage him in free conversation—by no
means difficult—was to be drawn toward him as “with
cords of a man.” Any one knowing him well who
should attempt to delineate his character, would certainly
not fail to present his social disposition, with the warmth
and sincerity of his friendship as among his more promi-
nent traits. No may ever more heartily despised caste ;
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 16'3

yet no one ever more enjoyed, or more sedulously cultiva-
ted special friendships. Of this the Master’s example
was a sufficient justification, for while he loved all his
disciples, there were special occasions concerning which
it is written, ‘he took with him Peter, James, and John.”
Dr. Mattison’s friendship was not a blind devotion, but a
frank, manly, discriminating attachment, which admitted
the freest expression of thought by both himself and his
friends; it was hence strong and abiding. Dr. William
G. Lord writes thus: “My house was generally his home
when he visited Newark; I had his confidence, and our
friendship from our first acquaintance (in 1839) was mu-
tual. I had frequent conversations with him about leaving
the Church during the years that he strayed, and advised
and strengly urged him to return. At one of these inter-
views on the subject, perhaps the last, when I called at
his house in New York more than a year before he came
back, he said it was his purpose to do so, remarking that
his health was too feeble, and I added, ‘life too short,’ for
him to establish an independent Church.”

Lying before us—if a personal allusion may be allowed
—are three letters written by Dr. Mattison at different
times to the author. They are cited to illustrate, by one
instance out of many, that honest unselfish sincerity of
friendship in him which neither time nor change could
impair. The first is dated New York, Sept. 26, 1853,
and contains sentences like the following: ‘I have just
164 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

finished reading your sermon on the death of Mrs. Free-
man, and must be allowed to say that I am pleased, much

pleased withit..... If there were any points where
criticism might pause and query they would probably be:
1. A slight repetition... .. 2. On page 9, you speak of

‘‘probationary trial.’ Could you not improve the sen-
tence? ..... As the page now stands there is a slight
want of method and perspicuity. But in regard to me-
thod Iam perhaps too rigid. 38. I have only to add a
query as to the word ‘barring’ page 21. Is it not rather
too degat for a funeral discourse? .. . . Well, that is all
of criticism. I see much to commend..... and my
heart says, ‘May you live and preach and write a thou-
sand years’”! The candor of 2 friendship which could -
dictate sentences like these was equalled only by its
warmth. After this the force of circumstances led to
long years of non-intercourse, except an occasional meet-
ing in person, and a brief newspaper discussion, kindly,
though frankly conducted on either side; but no changes
of location, not even a separation of ecclesiastical relations,
could quench the glow of his hearty sincere friendship.
Hence in a letter written twelve years after the above and
dated New York, August 9, 1865, he begins by. saying,
“T write you as an old friend.”

The most of this has been given in a previous chapter.
In taking up the third letter referred to, very tender
memories are awakened, it having been received but two
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LITE. 165

weeks before his death. It was written in reply to an
order for books and bears date of Jersey City, November
7, 1868. After speaking of the books he says, “I was
glad to hear from you aside from the order—have wanted
to write you ever since Conference. . . . We all join ina
strong invitation to you and your wife to visit us. Let us
know a week before that I may be at home. I am toiling
as heretofore. ..... My work is too absorbing for me.
The facts that I am constantly learning stir my very soul
and wear upon my nerves and health. I am alarmed for
the future of my country, especially when I see the apathy
over the spread of Romanism.”

Dr. Mattison like most other men in his position had his
circle of special friends, but unlike some who claim great-
ness, he was far from being cold and indifferent toward the
many outside of that circle. He had a warm heart, aready
tongue, and an open hand for all. An intelligent layman
of Sussex County, New Jersey, Mr. Peter H. Hough, who
saw Dr. Mattison for the first time at the dedication of the
Tranquility church, in speaking of the occasion afterward,
said to the writer, ‘I was surprised to find him so sociable.
We dined at the same house, which gave me an opportunity
to be in his company, and though at first I was somewhat
‘afraid to approach him, it was not long before I felt per-
fectly easy in his presenco, and we chatted together with
all the familiarity of old acquaintances. So free was he
to reply to all my questions, that I forgot his superiority
166 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

over myself, except by the wisdom of his answers.” The
letter of Rev. J. 8. Gilbert, so largely quoted from else-
where, contains this beautiful paragraph: “He remained
with me over night where I boarded. One incident will
nevor fade from the memory of that family. There was a
little girl in the house by the name of Lizzie, only about
ten years of age. Dr. Mattison led our family devotions;
prayed for all; but prayed with much earnestness for the
little girl, speaking at some length of the temptations and
dangers of youth. The lady of the house said afterward,
‘TI almost feared to have so distinguished a man stop with
us, but he is as plain and good as can be; no pride and no

airs.’”’

This presents a fair specimen of Dr. Mattison’s
intercourse with the families he visited, whether as a
stranger or a pastor, and of the impression which he was
accustomed. to leave behind.

Besides these illustrations we give the testimony of those
whose knowledge of his social nature and habits qualifies
them to write intelligently respecting them. Speaking of
his simplictty Rev. W. Hosmer says, “I use the term to
express that naturalness which was so inseperable from
him. He was by many supposed to be full of artifice, and
always planning ambitiously for himself, or intriguingly
for the accomplishment of some favorite if not sinister
scheme. But this was the very reverse of his character.
There was no artifice or concealment about theman. A
childlike simplicity and frankness pervaded all his conduct.
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 167

Never was there a more transparent nature. He kept
nothing back from his friends, and even his enemies injured
him more by the confidence which he had placed in them
and they had betrayed, than they could in any other way.”
Ina subsequent paragraph he adds: ‘He was entirely
unpretending, and in his presence the veriest child felt at
ease. No one ever possessed a kinder or more affectionate
spirit; no one ever bore himself more humbly and yet
always with manly grace.”

Rev. J. M. Buckley after describing various interesting
phases of his character continues thus:

“J will now speak of his social qualities. He was in
my judgment a very good natured man. I never saw an
indication of peevishness or ill nature in him though I
have seen him under circumstances of great provocation.
He abounded in sympathy for young men, was never too
busy to see them, always roady to talk with them and to
give them good advice. It was delightful to hear him dis-
course at his own table, in his study, or when with a few
friends in any convenient place. Here many persons who
had obtained the idea that he was a harsh, austere, malev-
olent man have been undeceived. There are few more
genial, warm-hearted, or tender-hearted men than was
thissame Dr. Mattison. Tis accessibility io all classes was
in pleasant contrast with the reservo aud hauteur which

characterize not afew cf far less talent and distinction
than himsolf.”
168 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

Dr. Mattison’s domestic life is worthy of careful study
and justly claims more than a passing notice. In the
privacy of his own home circle he exhibited the noble~
qualities of his nature ; and of all places in poet
this is the very best for estimating correctly a man’s true
character. If one placed at the head of a large family
but meets with fidelity his home responsibilities, fulfilling
his various obligations to those who are made dependent
upon him, and bearing in patience the necessary trials of
his situation—such a man is as much “better than he that
taketh a city,” as ruling” a household in all that pertains
to a true Christian education, is better than simply “ ruling”
one’s own “spirit.”

Dr. Mattison’s home was a happy one—made such in no
small degree by his own cheerful, genial, devout spirit.
He was too much devoted to work, to mingle largely in the
social enjoyments of the family; yet nothing delighted
him more than to unbend himself from study to sport with
his younger children, or to gratify his love of music by
joining with the older ones in sacred song. Often when
bending over some exhausting manuscript, the sound of
their voices mingling with some sweet piazo accompaniment,
would arrest his busy pen and attract his tall form to the
happy parlor group. No father ever loved his children
more, or ever more enjoyed their love, respect, and con-
fidence in return, a fact which speaks volumes in proof of
the goodness of his home life.
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. xs 169

Perhaps there is no more fitting connection than the
present in which to write particularly of Dr. Mattison’s
religious character; since if a, man’s piety will not stand
the test of ahome scrutiny itis of but little account'else-
where. The following emphatic testimony from Rev. J.
M. Buckley cannot fail to interest the reader. ‘I believe
Dr. Mattison to have been a very pious man during the
last five years of his life. I restrict the statement to these
years, because I did not know him intimately during any
other period. Certain itis that no man within my circle
of acquaintance, was ever more ready to converse on spirit-
ual subjects or alluded to his own personal experience
more touchingly. And in family devotion where too many
are dead and cold, repeating a dull form day after day,
his heart always overflowed and his words were ever new.
I am well satisfied that he grew visibly in grace every
month of his life for years before his death, and when I
had the honor to be in his company his spirit and conver-
sation were such as to leave on a mind naturally too prone
to disparage the evidences of high degrees of piety, an
exalted impression of his religious character.”

From January Ist, 1850, till the close of his life, Dr.
Mattison was accustomed to put on record each year an
“Inventory of Possessions,” a habit which not only illus-
trates his methodical turn of mind, but which also, as the
reader will presently see, incidentally reveals to us what
his living lips can no longer express,—his deep sense of the
170 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE

divine goodness and his devout consecration of himself to
God. In the later years of his life he kept no journal
save thig annual record, which was manifestly designed
for private use only; but on this account it is all the more
valuable as an illustration of his interior religious life.

At the time he began this record his real and personal

property had increased, from very small beginnings, to
nearly ten thousand dollars, whereupon he appends to the
inventory this devout prayer: “Great God! Help me to
obey thee, and if riches increase never set my heart upon
them. Make me rich in good works and faith, and help
me to

‘Set my affections allabove,
And lay up all my treasure there.’ Amuzy.

H. MATTISON.”

Passing on to 1854 woe find this grateful record: “From
the above it seems that I have gained some—dollars since
January Ist, 1852, mostly from my books. But better
than all else, I trust I am better off in religion than for
many years past. Thanks be unto God! ‘And blessed
be his holy name forever, and let the whole earth be filled
with hisglory. Amenand Amen.’ This yearif God spare
me I will give more than ever before, and so on from year
to year till my work here is done. _ -H, MATTISoN.”

The next year he writes thus: ‘Thanks be to God
that I yet live and have food and raiment, the means of
grace and the hope of glory. The past has been a good
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 171

year to my soul. Keep me, O, my God, unto thy eternal
kingdom. Amen. HH. MATTISON.”

In 1856 he appended the following: “Again I record
with gratitude the goodness of the Lord. Shall I look
upon this record in January 1857? If not, may I be in
heaven through infinite mercy in Jesus Christ.

H. MATTISON.”

One year later he made this touching.-entry: “Thanks
be to God not for temporal blessings only, but above all
for life and the hope of heaven. I find my strength
failing—soreness and pain in left breast—think more than
probable this may be my last record. AmT ready togo?
Great God! Bless thy poor child, thy unprofitable servant,
and at last take me through infinite mercy to dwell with
thee forever. Amen and Amen. H. MATTISON.”

In 1858, after stating his net gain for the year, he wrote:
“Tt thus appears that this year, unlike the one preceding,
the Lord has added to my earthly possessions; though my
expenses have been great, and I have used money freely
for the cause of human freedom. My health is better
than it was a year ago. Thanks be to God for life and all
its mercies. May I have grace to act in all things as a
good steward of God’s manifold grace tome. Amen.

H. MATTISON.”

The year previous to this record he had been stationed
at Syracuse where he bestowed labor and expense without
stint upon the colored population, and otherwise exerted
172 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

himself in behalf of the cause which lay so near his heart.
His anti-slavery zeal employed his soul body and purse.

The showing of the inventory one year after was quite
different, yet his cheerful trust in God was not in the least
disturbed as the subjoined record proves: “ And here I
still am a monument of God’s great mercy. Though I
have declined about—dollars in possessions, yet I feel no
concern. To God be all thepraise. Amen.”

Passing over several years the record of 1864 is worthy
of special note: “‘ With gratitude and praise to God for
his unmerited forbearance and mercy, I write one inventory
more! Thank God, I think less and less of earth and its
glittering vanities. Glory be to God alone. Amen!

H. M.”

The next year he wrote thus: ‘ How good has the Lord
been tome! I yet live to care for my dear family and
preach his word, and have all I want (thank God!) of this
world’s goods. All glory be to God forever! Amen!

H. MATTISON.”

In 1866 we find the following: “An eventful year has
passed. My dear old Jfother is of earth no more. Still I
again record my gratitude to God who still spares my life
aud grants mo so much of earthly happiness. Above all
I praise him for the hope of heaven when all my years are
fled. Amen! H. MATTIISON.”

His last inventory is dated Jersey City, January 1, 1868,
and is followed as usual by a devout expression of his
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 173

Christian feelings: “Once more I record my sense of God’s
goodness and mercy to me. He has given me another
happy, and I trust, useful year in this world of sin and
death; and better than all I humbly trust that Iam even
better prepared for death and heaven than I was a year
ago. And here I renew my covenant with God to serve
him, and to be his forever. Amen! H. MATTISON.”
Can any one read these annual memoranda without
admiring their beautiful simplicity, and having his heart
touched by their expressions of deep religious fervor?
We have read them in manuscript over and over, but
never without strong emotion and an increased admiration
of the man from whose heart and pen they emanated.
They clearly show what was the type of Dr. Mattison’s
piety. It was wholly free from cant; was marked by
deep humility of spirit; an all pervading sense of the
divine goodness; a profound conviction of his utter un-
worthiness; a heartfelt gratitude to God for his manifold
mercies ; and most of all by a lively unwavering trust in
the blood of atonement for present. and eternal salvation.
Such a piety gave him an abiding sense of acceptance
with God through Christ, and a conscious preparation day
by day to live or die. His, by consequence, was a happy
religious experience. As these annual records prove, it
was a deeper, richer, sweeter experience in the privacy of
his own consciousness, than even his joyful though always
were wont to

 

modest expressions of it in public
174 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

indicate. He knew and exemplified what Mr. Wesley
meant by “walking in eternity.” Living thus, abroad
and at home, his unexpected death was but a pleasant
surprise.

Without needless delay we shall introduce the reader to
the impressive incidents preceding and attending that
event. It was an event neither coveted nor dreaded by
him; for he was never weary of life though a great
sufferer, nor in the least alarmed at the approach of
death, though ardently desirous of a longer time in
which to perfect his plans.

So fully had the orderings of Providence taught him
the duty of submission, and so thoroughly had he learned
the lesson of acquiescence, that, like the Master amid his
passion agonies, and sweat, and blood, he could say in
life or in death—“ Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou
wilt.”
CHAPTER VIL.

A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

“How sweet the hour of closing day,
‘When all is peaceful and screne,

And when the sun with cloudless ray,

Sheds mellow lustre o’er the acene |
Buch is the Christians parting hour;
So peacefully he sinks to rest;
When faith, endued front heaven with power,
Sustains-and cheers his languid breast.”

N the death of Dr. Mattison with its
attendant circumstances there was more

nek

    

than a realization of this vivid poetio
picture. The event was hastened by over-
work and exposure. ‘“ Eps Haak of shins

accomplishment. True to his philanthropic im-
pulses, and still intensely recognizing the universal brother-
hood of men, all his generous sympathies were drawn out
by the struggle of a small, weak congregation of colored
people to build for themselves a church in the city
ot his home. To encourage them in their enterprise he
176 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

consented to act as a trustee and otherwise to aid them.
Already his dnties as Secretary of the American and For-
eign Christian Union were more than equal to his failing
strength, yet when remonstrated with by his friends
against consenting to this additional care and labor, his
answer was, “Ido not expect to-live long, but I wish to
see these. poor people worshipping God in a church of
their own before I go hence,” It is believed that in at-
tending a fair held by them in behalf of their enterprise,
he took the cold which terminated in the disease of which
he died.

For some weeks previous to his death there seemed to
be a foreshadowing of his approaching end. He was
unusually devout in his family worship and talked much
of dying. Three days before his sickness began, being
very feeble, when chided for fondling his youngest child,
a little girl seven years old, by carrying her down stairs,
he made the sad reply, ‘‘ She will not have a Pa long.”

-He spent-his last Sabbath of active labor in ‘Newark,
preaching in St. Paul’s church, and warning the large
assembly -of the fearful. encroachments of Romanism.
With all the honesty and earnestness of a dying man he
said; ‘‘T may not live a year, but you will live to see a
fierce conflict between Popery and Protestantism, like the
late struggle between slavery and freedom!”

On the next day, having first attended the Newark
Preachers’ Meeting, he visited the jail and took the depo-
-

A BRILLIANT SUNSET. ATT,

sition of one of the traducers of Mary Ann Smith,
imprisoned for crime. The perjurer now swore that his
former testimony in court to her infamy, was an utter
fasehood concerning a person he had never seen, and for
which he was paid by her former priest. This was the
last public act of Dr. Mattison’s life.

On Monday evening we follow him to his home, his last
entrance there. The venerable Henry Boehm was await-
ing his arrival. “Why, Father Boehm,” he exclaimed
“T am glad to see you; ” and such was the warm, cordial
greeting which Dr. Mattison was accustomed to give his
friends at his own home. Soon a change comes over
him; nature is weary and worn—worn out. He talks
but litttle. Fearing Father Boehm might feel neglected
his wife called his attention to it. He arose, and grasping
his hand said to him, “Father Boehm, you will excuse
me for being so quiet; I do not feel able to talk.” All
who know the dear old man can readily imagine his re-
ply.

On Tuesday morning the family physician came, pro-
nounced the disease pneumonia, and enjoined strict quiet-
ness. But his “ruling passion, strong in death,” would
not allow him to keep his bed or room. A work on
Romanism, just finished, was now going through the
press, and he was busy writing another on “ Depravity in
Relation to Entire Sanctification.” He must work on
that ;and so each day he would pass into his study, the
178 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

adjoining room, and bid his weary pen record the
thoughts that struggled in his soul for utterance. During
most of this time no danger of a fatal result was appre-
hended. The doctor gave daily assurance of his recovery ;
the patient himself was hopeful though not sanguine, and
his visiting brethren regarded his chances as favorable.
The Sabbath came; he had ceased to write, but had said
to his wife, ‘Leave those papers and books just .as you
see them.” The papers were the manuscript of the work
he was composing; the books were Wesley’s Notes, a
volume of Wesley’s Sermons, and a volume of Watson’s
Institute’s, each opened and laid face down, with the pas-
sages marked which he intended to quote. It is not an
insignificant fact that the last human authors consulted
by him were Wesley and Watson, from whom chiefly we
derive our theology—a theology of which Dr. Mattison
was ever a bold and able defender. ;
On the evening of this day he insisted that his wife,
exhausted by continuous watching, should go down and
take some tea leaving the hired girls to remain with him.
“Now girls,” he said, “I must go into my study once
more. Bessie take hold of my arm and assist me a little
to keep me from falling ;”’ and slowly he was led through
and seated in a large chair before the cheerful grate.
How happy was he at that moment in sight of his books
again! He turns and carefully gurveys the long rows of
volumes shelf by shelf, looks at his desk, gazes upon his
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 179

sermons and other papers, glances at the waste-basket,
and then laying his head back and closing his eyes, he
sits with folded arms in thought and silent prayer. The
pause seems long, the silence becomes oppressive, when he
breaks it by saying, “ Now, girls, take me back.”

On Monday he was visited by Rev. John Campbell,
who, after some preliminary conversation, said, “ Doctor,
I am sorry to see you so poorly, but you know whom you
have believed ;” to which, with a pleasant but earnest
look, he replied, ‘Yes, I settled that point satisfactorily
many years ago, and have no more doubt of it now than
that my name is Mattison.”

On Tuesday morning about two o’clock he prevailed on
his wife to take a little rest by lying down beside him on
the bed. “ How long,” he asked, “have we lived to-
gether?” to which she replied, “ Twenty-six years.”
He smiled and said, “My dear you have forgotten, it is
twenty-seven years.” He then spoke of their happy life,
and of the long years of bodily suffering through which
he had passed, and added, “But now I am going to
leave you.” When she wept, and expressed her deep
anguish at the thought of his dying, he said plaintively,
“Would you keep me here longer, when I am almost
through my sufferings?’ After a time she arose and
stood beside his bed, her hand pressing his brow wet
with the perspiration of approaching death, and her heart
convulsed with grief. He sought to quiet her agitation,
180 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

and offered up a prayer, never to be forgotten, that his
wife and children, with himself, might form an unbroken
family in heaven. He then gavo directions concerning
his funeral: “Iam a plain man,” hoe said, “and wish
to be buried’ in a plain way. Take me to Oswego and
. bury me beside my mother. Don’t put on mourning for
me.” When she stated her own wishes he meekly ac-
quiesced by saying, “Do as you think best; I leave it
with you.” He asked for water, and after receiving it
said, “How refreshing! it is like the water that flows
from the fountain of life.”

The earthly tabernacle was now about to be dissolved ;
the immortal spirit struggled for releaso from its clay
prison-house. “Call the children,” he said, ‘“‘ I am going
soon ; I feel there are wings all around me; I am going
up; I feel myself going, going up; glory! glory! I am
almost through my sufferings, almost through. Don’t do
as many others do, weep and mourn over my departure,
but think how happy I shall be. Don’t think of me as
‘buried, but in Paradise.”

He had often expressed a wish to die in the quiet of his a

own home, with all his family around him. Aware of
this desire, his eldest daughter at home, after he had be-
come apparently unconscious, and when it was feared he
would never speak again, said to him, placing her mouth
close to his ear, Pa, we are all here;”’ to which he re-
sponded, “ Well,” and sweetly smiled. O, well indeed!
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 181

What a fulness of meaning was crowded into that brief
monosylable! It told of a grandly useful life, and of a
death sublimely victorious, and seemed to be an echo in
advance of that ravishing plaudit of eternity, ‘‘ Well done,
thou good and faithful servant.’ At the hour of two in
the afternoon he slept in Jesus.

The moment of his departure was attended by a phe-
nomenon too remarkable to be omitted. ‘The dying
man’s eyes suddenly opened widely with an intense look
upward, and a brightness fell upon his face like a sudden
gleam of sunshine from an open window. So vivid was
this light that every eye in the room instantly turned to
‘see if a shutter had not swung open; but all were closed
and the room wasshaded. They turned to the bed and all
saw with a deep thrill of amazement, a transparent, va-
por-like body, resembling a luminous cloud rising with the
departing brightness from the dying visage. . . . . “God’s
-glory smote him in the face;’ and thus in the last instant
of his exit from time, he was permitted wondrously to.in-
timate to human eyes that life of the spirit beyond the
. death of the body, of which he so eloquently spoke and
wrote. ”’*

The funeral took place in the Trinity M. E. church,
Jersey City, on Thursday afternoon, November 26th. Al-
though the exercises occurred on the day set apart for na-
tional thanksgiving, and therefore devoted to domestic

 

* Memorial Sermon by Rev. G. L. Taylor.
184 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

enjoyment, the church was filled to repletion by a .arge
number of ministers and people. Services having been
held at the residence of the disceased, the procession at
half-yast two o’clock arrived at the church, and the
remains of the lamented servant of God were slowly
borne up the aisle, and placed in front of the pulpit
from which he so often discoursed. There was a large
number of pall-bearers, consisting of well known
ministers and laymen. Rev. G. H. Whitney, the pastor

of the church, opened the exercises by announcing the
642d hymn:

“ Jesus while our hearts are bleeding
O’er the spoils that death hath won.”

Rey. G. L. Taylor offered prayer, and was followed by
Rev. Mr. Peake, of the Reformed Church, who read ap-
propriate selections of Scripture, observing : “‘ These pas-
sages are of Dr. Mattison’s own selection, and are chosen
as he did everything, well.”

Rev. J. M. Buckley then said: ‘A sad and solemn in-
terest attaches to the hymn I am about to read, from the
fact that these words and the music are the last which
our friend composed. They were prepared as a hymn of
consolation on the occasion of the death of Mr. Charles W.
Simpson, son of the Rev. Bishop Simpson.”

We give the first and last verses of the hymn:
“They are going, only going
Out of pain and into bliss ;
Out of sad and sinful weakneee
Into perfect holiness,
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 183

Snowy brows, no care shall shade them 3
Bright eyes, tears shall never dim
Rosy lips, no time shall fade them ;
Jesus called them unto Him.

“ When the toils of Itfe aye over,
Tears and sickness, care and pain,
In the land unknown to sorrow,
May we meet them all again ;
And beyond that final river,
Where the tears are wiped away,
Spend with them a long forever
In the land of perfect day.”

After the singing Rev. Mr. Whitney spoke thus:

“Time does does not permit that the many who would
wish to say a word should utter even a single sentenge
here to-day. This affliction falls upon us all—our hearts
are full. Among the dying requests of our dear departed
brother, was one that the Rev. Dr. Burchard and the Rev.
Dr. Tyng, Sr., should assist in the exercises at his fune-
ral. The Rev. Dr. Burchard assured me that if it were
possible he would be here this afternoon, but doubted
whether he could come and wished me to say to this audi-
ence that no man stood higher in his esteem than Dr.
Mattison. The Rev. Dr. Tyng I have expected here until
a few moments ago. I have received a letter, in which
he says it is utterly impossible for him to be with us, and
wishes me to convey to the brethren in the ministry and
to this congregation these words: ‘I beg you to assure
the brethren and the congregation of my very sincere re-
1&4 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

gret at my inability to be with them, and of my high
esteem and cordial love for our departed brother as a
Christian man and minister of the Church of God.’ ”

A want of space permits us to'give only the, closing por-
tion of Rey. Dr. Foster’s able and eloquent address which
followed. He said:

“Among all the men within the circle of our acquaint-
ance, can wo fix our thoughts upon one single man whose
heart more fully sympathized with the great work in
which the world is engaged now, in all its sacred aspects,
than he who lies there in that coffin? Had not God qual-
ife 1 him especially to bear a great and noble hand in this
divine work, by filling his heart with love for it, a fervent
zeal, glowing in his bosom and upon his lips until the
very last moment—until he came in from the field of
his labor, and stretched himself out upon that bed of
devth? Among us all, there was no heart more earnestly
engaged in everything that related to the kingdom of
Jesus Christ than his. God has rarely committed to his
servants more diversity of talent, a greater versatility of
power, adaptation to all occasions and to all opportunities,
readiness to enter into every open door of every kind in,
all the struggles and conflicts that are going on. But
God had accomplished all he wanted to by him. He
himself had made him great and noble, and prepared him
for the eternal society, for the blissful realm, for the
companionship of the good. He was ready to go in and
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 185

be with his Lord. God could raise other workers to do
the work. The work was accomplished to its end, and a
yoice spake out of the heavens, that was not heard by the
the ears of the people, but was heard in the chamber in
Sussex street, ‘Servant of God, well done! Thou hast
been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler
over many things;’ and Dr. Mattison passed away from
the ranks of toil and labor to join the shining throng of
the glorified and ransomed in heaven.

“Could we lift that veil, we should see a diadem, a ,
crown of glory upon his brow, and a palm of victory in
his hand. ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Ghost!’”

Rev. Dr. Scudder one of the chief Secretaries of the
American and Foreign Christian Union gave a brief ad-
dress a part of which has been presented elsewhere. We
append the following :

“Last Saturday a week ago, we met in our office for
the last time. We were both to preach in the same city
on the next day. He said to me: ‘Brother Scudder, we are
going to do the same service in Newark; now let us have
a little emulation. Tell them that Dr. Mattison is going
to present the cause in the M. E. Church, and I will tell
them: that you are going to present the cause in the First
Presbyterian church. See if we cannot: arouse a spirit
of emulation, and see who can do the most for this cause.’
I have not seen him since. He has beaten me, and hag:
186 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

gone up to get Itis reward. Oh! may we follow him as
he followed Christ!”

The last address was given by Rev. L. R. Dunn. Re-
ferring to his deep interest in the colored people of Jersey
City, and his address at the fair then lately held by them,
he said :

“Though not present, some remarks he made on that
occasion were reported to me which I regard as fitting to
be referred to on this occasion. He said to the people
assembled there: ‘I expect to spend the rest of my days
in this city ; I’do_ not know that I shall live long, but I
want to live long enough to see the object for which this
fair is held accomplished.’ . » . ee ee

“The news came to me, and:fell with sadness upon my
heart, that he was very ill. I hastened down to his resi-
dence,.and saw him pale, emaciated, feeble, and suffering
greatly. We talked together about his sickness; I en-
deavored to speak hopefully to him. He remarked to
me: ‘For the sake of my family, and some unfinished.
work that I hive on hand, I would like to live yet a little
while,’ the tears gathering in his eyes as he spoke; ‘but,
if my work is done, I feel that my way is clear, that I
have made my peace with God, and that all is right: I
have no fears, no doubts, no concern.’ We prayed to-
gether, and at the conclusion of the prayer, as well as
during its utterance, he spoke his clear ‘Amen,’ as you
have heard it many a time. I called again on Saturday
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 187

morning. He was better; the disease was broken; there
was every prospect at that time of returning health. We
all rejoiced together; we felt that the great difficulty was
passed, and that, in a few short days, he would be en-
gaged in his duties again. He had an engagement to
meet on the morrow evening, and requested me to take
his place, saying: ‘ When I get better, if you have more
labor upon your hands than you can attend to, I will en-
deavor to assist you.’ I promised him that I would try
and do as he wished. He thought then of recovery, but
though the disease was broken, he had not strength to
rally from the debilitating effects of it, and sunk down
from sheer exhaustion into the arms of death. I have
been greatly impressed with some lines of poetry that he
‘quoted on the occasion of the death of ihe Rev. Samuel
Y. Monroe only a short time since. And this reminds me
how God is speaking to this Church. Within two short
years, two of those who have been your pastors have been
suddenly called away; and how it speaks to us who were
connected with him in the ministry, in Conference re-
lato 1s, in spreading abroad the Gospel in the world, to
be ready, to be up and doing, for the night cometh when
none of us can work. As he stood on the occasion re-
ferred to, as I am standing here, and looked down upon
the remains of that dear departed minister, whose
memory is cherished in the hearts of all that knew him,
‘he exclaimed:
188 A BRILLIANT SUNSED.

‘O change! O wondrous change purst from the prison-bara

One moment there, so low, so feeble ; now beyond the etara!

O change! stupendous change! there lies the soulless clod!

The sun eternal breaks, the new immortal wakes, wakes with his God!’”*

In accordance with Dr. Mattison’s request his body was
taken to Oswego for interment. On the way there was
a sad recognition of the name by many. The precious re-
mains were subjected to no rude handling, but employes
and passengers seemed to vie with each other in paying to
them and the surviving attendants their utmost consider-
ation and respect. That tall form which had so often,
while living, entered the residence of Captain Morgan
with brotherly greetings, was now carried thither by
others, thence to be borne to its last resting place. While
awaiting interment it was visited and looked upon in sad-
ness by a large circle of kindred and acquaintances,
whose tears and grief proclaimed in a mute language
more forcible than words, ‘Behold how they loved him !”

The funeral services were held at the First M. E. church
in presence of a large and deeply sorrowing congregation,
and were impressively conducted by Rev. J. F. Clymer
pastor of the Church; Rev. Mr. Danforth of the Second
M. E. Church; Rev. Mr. Condict of the Presbyterian
‘Church Rev. G. H. Whitney of Jersey City; Rev. Mr.
Greeley of the, Congregational Church; Rev. Mr. Bonte

 

* The Methodist of Dec. 6, 1868, contained the wddrosses i in fol
portions of which only have here been given.
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 189

of the Protestant Episcopal Church; and Rev. Mr. Hughes
of the Baptist Church.

The Scripture lessons at the church and the burial ser-
vice at. the grave, were read from the “‘Pastor’s Manual,”
prepared by Dr. Mattison’s own hand.

~The fact that so many different denominations were
represented in the funeral services is suggestive of his
eminent catholicity. He was no narrow-minded bigot.
His was a heart as large as the “body of Christ;” his
Were sympathies as broad as the “household of faith.”
He occupied pulpits more frequently outside of Methodism,
and was more widely known and ‘esteemed than most of
our chief ministers. Dr. Foster truly remarked to a friend
on the day of his funeral rites at Jersey City, that “he
was too wide for a sect.” In keeping with the warm ex-
pressions of Drs. Burchard and Tyng on the same occasion
was that of Rev. John N. Murdock D. D. Secretary of the
American Baptist Union, in a letter to Mrs. Mattison some
months after her husband’sdeath: “I cannot forbear, even
at this late day, telling you how much I esteemed and
loved my departed relative and friend.”

The resolutions adopted by the Newark and New York
Preachers’ Meetings, and by the Black River Conference,
contained the fullest recognition of his many excellences
and formed atender record of his manly Christian vir-
tues; while the memorial services of the Newark Confer-
ence were in the highest degree appreciative of his

-
190 A BRILLIANT SUNSET.

superior courage, ability, and worth, as one of its chief
moral heroes just fallen in battle. The eloquent addresses
of Rev. Dr. Wiley, Rev. J. Hanlon, and Rey. Dr. Mc-
Clintock awakened a deep response in the hearts of the
vast congregation of ministers and people who listened to
them. We can give only the noble tribute of Dr.
Wiley.* He said:

“T have known Dr. Mattson for the last twenty years.
His course was one that made its mark; his words were
words of power. He could do strong things, and he did
them. The secret of his strength lay in his consecration
to God and his truth. He loved “argument. He was
never happier than when he could have a fair opportunity
to contend against what he believed to be the teachings ot
error and of falsehood. Some of you may think that he
carried some of his views to an extreme. If so, allowance
must be made for him because of his peculiar temperament
and the force of his will. He was no ordinary man, and
it was hard for his thoughts to run always in the channels
which other minds had formed. He must first question
bafore he could endorse a doctrine. Yetin all his numerous
discussions he wandered not from the faith once delivered
to the saints. He was a champion of what we hold as
‘orthodoxy.’ He was a warrior indeed and happiest far,
when with the weapons of reason, he stood amid the din

 

* For a report of this address we are indebted to the kindness
of Rev. J. I. Boswell.
A BRILLIANT SUNSET. 191

of intellectual strife. All ye who knew him well, bear
witness to this fact, that when he fought, he fought for
the truth, for freedom and for man!” (applause).

Dr. Mattison was a worker under great difficulties.
His mind was too vigorous for the weak and nervous body
which enclosed it. He was an invalid when his will
prompted him to great efforts. Often he stood in the
pulpit and preached with wonderful power, when others
would have been in the sick room. I met him only ten
days before his death, in the city of New York, and he
showed me proofs of his last work on Romanism. He
had large plans, and desired life only that he might
accomplish more for the cause of truth. He has passed
away but his name is fragrant in the Church. A lady told
me that just before he died, a light of peace and holy joy
seemed to pass over his countenance. His daughter
noticed it and said ‘Is not the window open’? What was
this light? It was the glory of the Lord which shone
upon him. And so the spirit passed away in peace, in
triumph.”

To say that Dr. Mattison was faultless would be to say
that he was other than human; but combined with his
necessary human frailty, there was so much of “the moral
sublime ” in his life, that we instinctively bury the one in
the oblivious grave of his body, and remember only the
other. No truer summary of his general character can be
given than that which has been furnished by Rev. W.
192 A BRILLIANT SUNSET,

Hosmer: “For purée simple individualism, for practical
‘efficiency, for integrity of design, and for all the qualities
which constitute the great and good: man, I have not known
the superior of Dr. Mattison. Of the depth of his per-
‘sonal religion and the strength of his faith, his life-long
and arduous labors are the best possible proof. ‘The tree is
known by its fruit.’ Such was Hiram Mattison—a man
of rare and varied powers most sedulously devoted to the
good, of mankind, This to some may seem as indiscrimi-
nate eulogy but to me it is a sober fact and falls below the
merits of my departed friend and co-laborer.”

We might expect that the close of such a life would be
joyous; that the sunset of such a day would be brilliant.
But the sun-rising to follow the brief death-slumbers of
the grave, shall be infinitely more resplendent—the sun-
rising of a day that shall never end. “ Watchman what
of thenight? Watchman what of the night? ie watch-
man said, The morning cometh.”

“Jesus is risen ! triumphal anthems sing!
Thus from dead winter mounts the sprightly spring,
Thus does the sun from night’s black shades return,
And thus the single bird wings from the Arabien urn.
Jvsus is-risen! He shall the world reatova !

Awake ye dead! sleep slumb’ring eaints no more!”
(LEantnes.

ND when Ruth was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his

   
  

* young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves,
and reproach her not; and let fall also some of the handfuls of
purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and

rebuke her not.”
Ror 2: 15,16,
GLEANINGS.

Uxprr this head it is proposed to add a chapter of re-
miniscences and other interesting matter which could not

well be embodied in the foregoing pages.

 

BOYHOOD RECOLLECTIONS.

an aspiring youth was first introduced to

FANE > aco through his captivating lectures on
Astronomy, and received from him his earliest in-
citement to the study of that sublime science. In illustra-
tion, we give Rev. J. M. Buckley’s interesting account of
his boyhood recollections of Dr. Mattison. ‘My acquain-
tance with him dates as far back as the year 1848 when
I was but a small boy. I was then taken to hear a
lecture on Astronomy and it was perhaps the first time
196 BOYHOOD RECOLLECTIONS.

that I had ever heard of Astronomy or learned the mean-
ing of the word. Before that, the stars to me had been
simply twinkling points of light, and the grand ideas of
the sublimest of sciences had not expanded or entered
my soul. The lecturer was tall and spare, seeming to me
then of course much taller than he did in subsequent
years. Indeed I thought that he was the tallest man
whom I had ever seen. Naturally enough I supposed
that a lecture would be very dry and only went because I
had the opportunity. But when the tall man unrolled his
maps, and I saw the Sun, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter
and the other planets with the mysterious Milky Way,
and the lecturer with pointer in hand, describing the
heavens in a way which held the delighted attention of all,
from the oldest and wisest to the children, who like my-
self gazed with wonder on the strange looking maps—I
was forthwith an amateur Astronomer, and for some weeks
just before retiring I studied the skies, while by day I en-
deavored to illuminate my playmates concerning the
North Star, the Dipper, and the Pleiades. During the
many years which have elapsed since those lectures I
have been deeply interested in Astronomy and everything
that relates to it, and rarely have I taken up a book on
the subject or locked into the heavens without the vision
of that tall man with the sharp eye, the long pointer, and
the black maps, coming before me.”
“DELIVERED OUT OF THE MOUTH OF
THE LION.”

JHE reader is doubtless interested to know the
pps| outcome, or issue, in the Mary Ann Smith case,
~ which we are happily able to give. About the
middle of September, 1869, there appeared the following
card in the Newark Daily Advertiser :

 
 

““ We are requested to state that Mary Ann Smith is at

present at St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, on the South Orange
Road, where she has been for several months past, free to
come or go as she saw fit. She is occupied as dressmaker
for the children, and has refused several situations that
have been offered to her, preferring to remain where she
is. She has been to Newark several times this summer
by herself, and returned to the Asylum of her own free
will.”
_ Having read this, Rev. J. 8. Gilbert and Rev. Mr.
Underwood, of Irvington, called at the Asylum September.
i7th, in order to see Mary Ann face to face. In reference
to their interview, Mz. Gilbert writes as follows:
198 ‘ DELIVERED OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION.”

“In company with Rev. Mr. Underwood, of Irvington,
I called at the Asylum this morning to see if such was in-
deed the real state of the case. At first we were told that
she could not be seen, but at last obtained an interview.
She came (in company with one of the lay sisters, for we
had no chance to see her alone) weeping most bitterly.
From her I obtained the following interesting facts, which
will be read with much interest by many, and which
serve to illustrate the cruel, crafty spirit of Rome:

“1. The letter published by Father Doane in which
she was represented as a devout follower of Pius IX,
Mary Ann Smith never dictated or wrote.

“2. She, after months of weary imprisonment and
anxious waiting, in a moment of regretted weakness,
promised to become a Catholic, and on these terms was
sent to the Asylum, her father saying that unless she left
the Protestant faith, he would keep her imprisoned for
twenty years.

“3. The fear of being again sent to some gloomy con-
vent, and there made to suffer such torture as only Roman-
ism can inflict, keeps: her from openly announcing her faith
in Jesus.

“Her liberty then is the glorious liberty of being
a Roman Catholic. All hail! thou new-born star of free-
dom! How long shall these things be ? How long shall
Catholic priests drag converts from Protestant altars, im-
mure them in convents, hire ex-jail birds’ to swear away
“DELIVERED OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION.” 199

their character, and finally mock their suffering py a
burlesque on freedom ?”

Soon after the interview above narrated, Father Doane
published an affidavit of Mary Ann’s, made before Judge
Teese, in which she stated that she was contented, happy,
wished to be let alone, &e. Of course no reply could be
made to this; and the matter rested till November 1st,
when Mr. Gilbert learned, through a friend, that Mary
Ann was living with a family in He called at
once to see her and gathered from her statements the fol-

‘lowing facts: that she had escaped from St. Mary’s
Orphan’s asylum soon after the interview spoken of;
that Father Doane had compelled her to make the affida-
vit referred to; and that she wanted to enjoy religion in
peace, but was in fear of being discovered and taken
back.

We forbear at the present to give further details, except
to say, that she is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, an inmate of a most worthy family, and happy in
the. enjoyment of religious freedom once more. Her
whereabouts is known only to a few friends who with the
great Protestant public may well afford to wait in patience
“ till the time appointed.”

 
TEMPERANCE ORTHODOXY.

 

1/0 illustrate Dr. Mattison’s integrity of practice

 

give a part. of his first sermon at Rome * in defense of his

position. Tt was founded on Ephesians v: 18, “And be.
not drunk with wine wherein is excess.” After a frank.

and able discussion of the wine question as set forth in the
Bible, he drew from the whole the following conclusions:
“1. Drunkenness by any means, wine, spirits, or opium, is
a sinagainst God; hence ‘no impenitent drunkard can ever
be saved! Poorman! No part in the kingdom of God!
2. Every man is bound by the law of prudence, ‘by the
warnings and examples of the Bible, and especially by. the

law of expediency, to wholly abstain from intoxicating:

drinks and drugs.

“8. By parity of reason it is wrong to make or vend:
alcoholic drinks, or to authorize their sale, except for medic-.

inal or mechanical purposes.

4, It ia the duty of every good citizen, and especially of:

every Christian, to discourage the making and use of intoxi-
cating drinks, by precept and example, in all Christian
ways, and to the extent of his ability.

 

* "See page 32.

jj and utterance on the temperance question, we
TEMPERANCE ORTIHODOXY. 201

Such are my temperance principles—Never advanced or
advocated any other—Pastoral Address. Such too is my
practice, in respect to drink, opium, snuff, tea, coffee, labor,
reproof, ete. And yet “an opposer of Temperance !”

Several years after this, having meanwhile removed to
New York, he planted himself firmly upon the platform of
the “New York City Temperance Alliance,” and stood
shoulder to shoulder with Wm. E. Dodge, R. E. Havens,
C. O. Leigh, John Falconer, Schurman Halstead, and other
champions of the cause. Among his papers, are sketches
of addresses-delivered by him about this time and notices
of them by the press, which show how deeply he was
interested in the temperance movement, and what impor-
tant service he rendered toward advancing it. In one of
these sketches we find the following :

But how prevent the liquor traffiic? Answer:

Just as theft, gambling, fraud, blasphemy, seduction,
and robbery—by law!

Objection.

1. “Church ”—To mould laws.

2. “Church and State ””—Church part of state.

3. “ Politics ”—Doff your religion ?

(I). Pray— thy kingdom come”. ‘Vote for six thousand
rum holes, then wipe mouth and pray, ‘“‘O, Lord revive thy.
work.” :

(Il). “For rulers”—1 Tim. ii: 1--5.. Vote for tipler.,
who will wink andconnive, then give “thanks,” and make
202 TEMPERANCE ORTHODOXY:

“supplications,” etc. Hard case!

“Aga roaring. lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked
ruler over the poor people.” Prov. xxviii: 15. “When
the righteous are in authority the people rejoice, but when
the wicked beareth rule the people mourn. Prov. xxix: 2.

(III). “Terror to evil doers”—Rom. xiii: 3. Do we
vote for such ?

4, “As Christian a temperance man; but as politician,

with party.” Build and pull down—Responsible for sale
and results! Sacrifice religion to politics. As Christian

saved! As Politician, sent to hell!
Conclude.

I. Carry principles with you.

IL. In behalf of widows, orphans, drunkards, Church,
“Men of Israel help.”

Enforce:existing laws. Remove polls from rum power.
Suppress bribery. Strike for Haine Law!

Were Dr. Mattison alive he would be no indifferent
observer of the temperance movement now in progress in
various.parts of the country, especially in New York city.
The holding of temperance meetings in churches, under
Christian auspices, addressed by various clergymen and
philanthropic citizens—this would quicken the pulsations of
his always warm heart, and send him at ence to the fore-
front of the battle against the bitterest foe that curses and
desolates the land!
REVIVALS, AND HOW TO PROMOTE THEM.

gryesy LTHOUGH the brief notes from which Dr.
hy if Mattison delivered the eloquent address referred
to by Mr. Buckley, page 158, can convey but a
faint idea of its full beauty and power, the reader will
doubtless be pleased to see them reproduced. We give
them without alteration as we find them among Dr. M’s

papers.

 
 

Question—Define Revival—Extraordinary and special
interest etc. Webster: ‘' Renewed and more active attention to
religion ; an awakening of men to their spiritual concerns.”

iL. Must Believe in Revivals.
’ Those who do not believe in never have—Quakers,
Dutch ete.

1. True agent the Spirit.

2. Instrument—God’s truth— Sword.”

8. Asarule God will and docs co-operate.

Two Theortes.
1. Church from children—conversions—one by one.
Lutheran—Dutch—Quaker etc. This the normal.
204 REVIVALS. AND HOW TO PROMOTE THEM

2. Instructed children etc; converted. Others from
time to time—But special. Extra meetings—Excitement,
etc.

1. No revivals without special attention to the subject—Inte-
rest— feeling or excitement.

(1). True of politics—Temperance—Stock company. .

(2). Religious truth calewated to excite—Guilt—Hell.

(3). Man made tobe excited. What sensibilities for?
Dormant in religion ?

(4) Hence always excitement. Pentecost—Camp-
meetings. To repressis to hill.

(5). Hence those denominations that decry excitement,
no revivals.

2. Must be Strong and Special Excitement,

(1) Preacher.

(2). Church.

(3). Unconverted.

“ Hot hearts,”—Edge only when excited.

3. While strong exeitement is indispensible, no strong excitement
can always exist, or very long at a time.

We in bodies: St John—~‘ fell at his feet as dead.”

Roman guard—Rittenhouse 1769. So of religious—
if too long, insanity or death.

None of us could live three months under the strongest
revival burdens and’ excitements. Even Holy Ghost
might burn out the temple—Destroy.

4, As strong excitement: indispensible, and yet its continuance
REVIVALS, AND HOW TO PROMOTE THEM. 205

Sor years impossible to our natures, we must have pertodical or oc-
casional, or none at all.

(1). A Logical conclusion from other two facts—Period-
ical or none.

(2). As matter of fact in all ages.

March and Rest.

Day and Night.

Shower and Drouth.

Pentecost; Antioch; Philippi; Wesley and Whitfield.

Our Ihstory from First.

Quarterly Meetings—Revival—Camp-meetings.
“Protracted ”—thirty-five years, at least.

Originated churches—kept ranks full—made us as
stars!

Ninety-five per cent of membership—three fourths of
ministers or more.

This meeting—Last year 125,000—But “ periodical!”

Well, most of God’s gifts: Day and Night—Spring and
Harvest; Sabbath. and Class and Prayer meetings;
Family worship; Sacrament. -

(1). Yet not strictly; no day or month.

(2). But even if so what of it? Philosophical.

II. Must believe they may be secured and promoted by human
instrumentality.

1. As general rule; few exceptions.

2. Not wait for God’s “set time.” Go to work to origi-
nate; “get up,” or “bring down!” Hither way!
206 REVIVALS, AND HOW TG PROMOTE THEM.

Herein some “lean too much toward Calvinism.”

3. Must believe if the right means used, the revival will
come.

HII. Go to work and use the means asif all of man.

1. Select best time ; Not July and August; Outof cities;
Harvesting ; At sea; At home ; Evenings long; Cool and
comfortable; This but common sense.

2. Preach Old Exciting Doctrines.

Devil; Hell; Danger; Children; Cold protessors;
Danger of Church ete. Till we feel; Church; Sinners;
“Knowing terror” ‘“ Saved with fear;” Focalize; Pile on
truth; Conviction; Church and all; Pray and work!

’ When conversions—press on !
If ranks broken, give no time to reform !
‘Press on meetings !

Don’t fear excitement!

If it goes well go on! :

1. Many will be saved; Good and True; Myriads in

‘heaven look down to altars; And protracted meetings

“O, happy day!” .

“ But Many Backslide.”
Necessary result---
Ten times as many left as by any other plan.
“ But Destroys Health of Preachers.”
(1) Be prudent; not overwork; some may---

(2). Have known but little harm done to preachers—

Inskip ete.
REVIVALS, AND HOW TO PROMOTE THEM. 207

Never one die!

Several ruined by Tobacco !

(3). Many die prematurely for want of hard labor;
Plethoric; Apoplexy, etc.

(4). If we die, in good work!

Summary.

1. Special revivals have their foundation in the piivdneal
and mental constitution of man; and are therefore both
philosophical and legitimate.

_2. That a revival without special excitement is a contra-
diction and an impossibility.

3. That to promote arevival, we must believe in, desire,
and work for it, as for any other desired end.

4. To repudiate or disparage special meetings and revi-
vals, is to discard the faith and practice which has saved
most of us, and made Methodism a saving power, anda
glory in this land.

Suppose we all cease ?

No extra meetings this winter ? Result!

Wait till fifty men work the quiet theory, and outdo
fifty others in saving souls, then time enough to adopt.

Last summer---more camp meetings than ever before in

America.
Last winter more protracted meetings---Results!

Shall we now abandon? Hold camp-meetings in winter?
Give up extra meetings in winter ?
Hold in July or August?
208 REVIVALS, AND HOW TO PROMOTE THEM.

Fall back on quietism, while Baptists and Dutch coming
to us?

No! No! Keep old machine—more fira! Go in for ex-
tra meetings and a glorious revival this winter in all our
churches ! y

Claim.

I. That the former is not the true theory of revivals,
but is anti-revival throughout!

Strange inconsistency. Believe in revivals, and yet
indorse this theory.

II. The seasons of special interest and excitement, pro-
moted by special human efforts, are in every respect philo-
sophical, scriptural and legitimate ; and the Church is in
her normal and proper state, when they are coustantly
labored for and realized, with all their accompaniments of
special services and excitement.
VALEDICTORY.

HN the one hundred and fifteenth page allusion is
=<—aj made by Mr. Taylor to Dr. Mattison’s “last
farewell.” While none except those who heard it can

 

fully appreciate its powerful argumentation and melting
pathos, some idea of both may be gathered from the
meagre sketch he left of it, and which we here subjoin.

It is given as presenting a fair specimen of his mode of
preparing for the pulpit, described on pages 127-8

Acts, 20: 32. Now two and a half years.—Last Sabbath
—could not be reappointed—Other duties—

Few things special and personal—

Yet not wholly—Good model—

Three years at Ephesus—Now closed—Elders &

Account of services, &c.

I. Zhe prevailing desire of his soul.

1. Not that they remember and love him.

Remember his warnings—y. 31.

They “ an inheritance with the sanctified.”

With the pure and holy in heaven.
210 VALEDICTORY.

Great end of all ministrations.

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown— ?”

“Now I live—”

Exhorts—éc. ‘that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.”

For this he had taught, and prayed, and wept.

Looked forward !'

In this desire I sympathize to-day.

Two years and a half your Watchman and Teacher—
’ Some started under my labors—

No stronger wish—“ May you live forever!”

Il. he means of salvation to which he commends them
at they may reach heaven at last.

1. To God.” A life of Prayer. Private.

Siva to God in private—Sincere.&c.

2. “Word of his grace”—Mainly preaching-

God’s great ordinance of Instruction.

Strength—Comfort—

“ Able to build you up.”

III. Process,—“ Build you up—”

1. Tenor of whole Bible—‘ Grow in grace—*

Children—Blade—

“ And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, ‘pastors and teachers; ;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in-the unity of the faith, and of the
VALEDICTORY. 211

knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ :
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
‘sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie
in wait to deceive ;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him

in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” Eph. 4:
11-15. a

This path I commend to you.

Meant to have preached at length.

Hope never perplexed or hindered—

This all I time to say upon’ text—

Thus I desire, above all else—

Thus I commend you—

Thus I commend a steady progressive holiness, as safest
path to God.

Now a few historical and personal—

1 Circumstances of coming. —Going out of Church—
Building ch.—76 converts— _

War—Slavery abolished—é&c..

Kind overture of Dr. Thompsonz—

Final conclusion—

Vacancy here—Committee—

My statement as to health and Pastoral work.

2. Sept. 4. Inaugural discourse 2 Tim. 4: 5.—“ But watch
thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work” &.
212 VALEDICTORY.

(1) A Divine ambassador, to teach God’s word.

(2) A Teacher—not mere repetition—go beyond what
flock know—variety—

(3) A Watchman. (1) False Doctrines—Ordination
vow. (2) Your lives—danger.

(4) Evangelist ; Souls converted ;
(5) Pastor and Administrator; care for church tem-
poral and spiritual.

3. To what extent fulfilled.

1. Preaching. “
(1) Generally here on Sabbaths.
(2) Subjects; variety; some not often discussed—
(8) Sought to instruct, as well as please.
(4) No doubt mistakes, and all very imperfectly ; but
never “deceitfully ;” What I believe to be the truth of
God.

(5) Admonitions and warnings.
1—Immortality of soul;

Millenarianism.

Universalism.

Attack of Smarius.

. Dancing, &c.

or go bo

6. Many sermons to unconverted.
2. Social Meetings.
Classes seldom; Why?
Prayer Meeting always when in city and not sick.
VALEDICTORY. 218

Sunday School, always till lately ; too much.

8. Pastoral Work.
(1) Sick in all cases known, with single exception.
(2) Thirty-two funerals ;
(3) Sixty-nine marriages; All take time and tax; A
great responsibility; Records &c.
(4) Forty-three Baptisms ;
(5) Forty-two professed conversions; Why not others?
Thirty-two received into church ; eight tobe; two dropped.
(6) Membership; When I came two-hundred and seven-
teen; now two hundred only, though thirty-two added
on profession ; letters ; twelve deaths ; removals; register.
Believe more actual members who can be found &c.
(7) Pastoral Visiting generally neglected, especially
for last year.
Warning as to treatment.
Invitations; Dedications; Centenary, &c.
Judged duty to accept.—
Do more for Christ on the whole.
Seventeen Centenary meetings.
Twenty-three Dedications, $40,000 ; Declined

many.
Ten or fifteen public lectures ;

Large correspondence; eight per day.
One Quarterly, one Monthly, four Daily, fourteen
Weekly papers.
4. Writing,
214 VALEDICTORY.

1. Finished on Resurrection, Five chapters written.
Companion vol.—Felt duty—
Finished March 6, 1866.

2, Select Lessons June 26, 1866.

3 Defense, &c. December 14, 1866.

4 Popular Amusements, December last, 3,000.

5 Bible Doctrine—Vansant.—Just out.

6 Three Tracts—Dr. Wise.

7 Speeches on perfect Love; Only edited.

About one hundred articles for papers.
Why do it ?
1. Not for notoriety or fame—God knows if ever such
ambition, too late now—
2. Nor for gain—Poorest compensation ;
Do not believe that on the whole one dollar more for all!
3. To serve God and my. Generation.

Few that write with success.

World needs and must have..

Will speak after my vovce hushed.

Such my views and motives.

If erred may God forgive—you algo.

If I have done and shall do more, by this seeming mis-:
appropriation of time and energies, you thus had mission+
ary in field, &.

Financial progress of Church.
(1) Mortgage $5,000
VALEDICTORY. 215

 

(2) Floating debts 900
(3) Repairs 1,600
$7,500
(4) Centenary Offerings, besides about $2,000
Parsonage &c. $1,200

‘““Why a deficiency ?? (1) Advance $500 in Salary. (2)
Other services about double. (8) Seats about the
same.

Do not know what of debt remaining.

Of Personal Relations with Church &e.

1 Have always regarded as of God’s good providence.
No other church so favorable.
2 Officers of Church generally faithful to duties;
Leaders; Trustees; Stewards; 8.5. Superintendents.
3 Kind and respectful to me always.
Not first unkind word or intimation.
Always ready to aid.
Sympathy and forbearance.
4 As consequence, a growing esteem and love for
them.
Better I know, the greater my confidence in Christian
character.
5. Can honestly say the same of the Churchas a body. A
few who dishonor.
Most steady, sincere, reliable Christians.
Great confidence to meet in heaven.
Commend cheerful liberality.
216 VALEDICTORY.

6 Outside public. Tew acquaintances.
Impossible. Ministry of city.
Press. Only one slight fling.
Went to Trenton, &c. ‘
Can easily excuse.
7. Self and family happy here.
1. To Converts. Baptized. Be faithful.
Cleave to God and Church.
With new Pastor begin anew.
Hear every sermon.
Attend Class and Prayer.
May I see names at last.
2. Unconverted, and wanderers from God.
(1) One hundred and thirty Sabbaths since I came
among you.
All numbered with solemn past!
Alas! how many before!
(2) Nearly two hundred times stood here in God’s
name to beseech you.
Must eave you in road to death!
Husbands of pious wives.
O! neglect not the great salvation!
‘‘Lay hold on everlasting life.”
No time to waste! Now! This spring-time. ‘“ Lest
death’s relentless river.”
Must now close.
A feeling of sadness:
VALEDICTORY. O17

Though dear family remain here, I-know not when
with you again!

Many happy Sabbath hours in this pulpit.

Soul often refreshed and lifted up in prayer.

Precious seasons at Communion.

Not likely all meet at Tablo again.

I here and there; May perish like Dr. Monroe!

Trust nearer heaven than when I came.

Love God, his Church, Worship, People.

Look for a place with them in heaven forever!

In 1835 commenced ministry; believed called of
God ; Obedient to this day; Never felt myself released.

Now feel health insufficient; Work as Pastor done
for life!

O! were it better done!

May God forgive all imperfections.

Accept the poor offering.

Enable me, O God, in new field to finish my course
with joy, and at last meet all the saints that I have known
and loved, with the faithful of this church of God, where
sin and sorrow are unknown, and where all tears are
wiped away !

*¢ And now; brethren, I commend,” &c.
218 CONFERENCE RECORD.

CONFERENCE RECORD.

——

For the convenience of the reader we present Dr.
Mattisons Conference record in tabular form as follows:

1836-37. Victory circuit.

1838-39. Adams station.

1840. Superannuated.

1841. Agent of American Bible Society for
New Jersey.

1842-48. Watertown station.

1844-45. Rome station.

1846. Superannuated.

1847. Supernumerary.

1848-49. Superannuated.

1850-51. Professor of Astronomy and Natural Phi-
losophy in Falley Seminary, Fulton, N. Y.

1852-55. Superannuated.

1856. Adams station.

“1757. First Church, Syracuse.

1858-60. Supernumerary.

1861. Fairfield, (nominal.)

1862. Withdrawn.

1866-67. Trinity Church, Jersey City, Newark Con-
ference.

1868, Secretary of The American and Foreign
Christian Union.
“FORBEARING ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE.”

 

sayreeenin Whatevér weakness he might betray
at any other point he was always strong at this.
Especially was this true during the later years of his life.
Yet to the day of his death he lost none of that frank,
manly positiveness of conviction and expression which
marked him from boyhood. This positiveness, however
mollified by grace, sometimes became the undesigned
occasion of offense to some who themselves had not grace
to bear it. But while others became offended at him, and
in some cases cherished bitterness toward him, he seldom
took offense himself; much less did he carry malice in his.
bosom toward any. And herein he always gained advantage
over an opponent, and seldom failed to conquer him with.
kindness. But though the offer of a friendly hand to some

offended brother might be scorned with disdain, as it was
inmore than one instance, yet even after this he always stood
ready to meet that brother more than halfway. Few men

if any, possessing Dr. Mattison’s strong elements of
220 “FORBEARING ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE.”

character, have ever given more reverent heed than him-
self to that apostolic counsel: “Forbearing one another
and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any: as Christ forgave yeu, so also do ye.”

A friend occupying an exalted position in the Church,

and whose Christian candor does no less credit to his heart,

than his acknowledged talents honor his head, has told us

a spicy story of an encounter between himself and Dr.

Mattison, which, though humiliating to each at the time,
“resulted creditably to both.

He was among those who entertained views and made
professions on the subject of holiness, such as the Doctor
was known to oppose. ‘There was a time,” he said,
““when I felt called upon to charge Dr. Mattison with
lying; I even said to him— You lie!” ‘‘ What answer did
he make to this!” we asked. ‘Answer! Why, he simply
looked at me and said—‘ Well, that will do for a sancti-
fied man;’ and sure enough he had me! We-parted—
and in thinking of what had transpired, I resolved that he
should not be first in making advances for a reconciliation.
~ Some days afterward we were at the same place, and
almost before I was aware he approached me, and laying
his hand upon my shoulder said, ‘ Brother—it is not right
that there should be any misunderstanding between us.’
This was an overcoming surprise to which my tears became
a speedy answer. We both wept, and gave to each other
the hand of restored friendship.” . ~
THE SECRET SOURCE OF POWER.

: 4|EFERENCE has already been made to the fresh-
m4] ness, fervor, and power of Dr. Mattison in prayer.

 

His deep communion with God was often the chief
source of his success in the pulpit. The groaning of his
spirit for help from above was far deeper and more earnest
than the mere utterances of his lips could express. The
writer has heard him speak with the utmost sincerity and
frankness, of the renewed, entire consecration of his
powers to God which he was wont to make on each oc-
casion of entering the pulpit, and of his inward wrest-
ling for the help of the Spirit. His remarkable ser-
mon at the Morristown camp-meeting in 1866, has been
vividly described in another place; but quite recently
there has come to our knowledge a touching fact con-
nected with it, which may prove a fitting supplement to
the descriptions alluded to. It was related to us by Mr.
Henry J. Bedell of Branchville, N. J. “As on that Sab-
bath morning,” said he, ‘I was passing out some distance
beyond the circle of the tents, Isaw a man bowed upon
223 THE SECRET SOURCE OF POWER.

his knees, near a tree, earnestly pouring out his soul to
Godin prayer. I knew not who it was, and without dis-
turbing his devotions I returned, and soon after took my
place in the congregation for the morning service.

As thousands seated themselves around me and one
preacher after another entered the stand, I saw the stranger
whom but a few minutes before I had found upon his knees,
ascend the steps and take his place among the ministers. 1
then thought—that is the man who will preach to us. I
knew it from the attitude of prayer in which I had seen
him when alone; and I looked for a good sermon. But it
was more than good; it was the greatest sermon I have
ever heard.”

Some secluded spot in desert or mountain was often
chosen by the Divine Saviour for his deepest ‘communings
with the invisible; so in this instance, his servant of
whom we write found his nearest access to God and his
highest baptism of heavenly power,.in the deep shades of
nature’s woody temple; and thus endowed he came forth
before the thronging multitudes to achieve his crowning
success in wielding the sword of the Spirit. And at
ordinary times, the study or other closet of devotion, be-
came to him a grand arsenal from which he bore away to
the pulpit his mightiest weapons of moral warfare; a
laboratory in which those hidden preparations of mind
and heart were wrought out, the results of which were so
marked upon his congregations.
THE SECRET SOURCE OF TOWER. 223
May a difference be affirmed between the preaching of
the fathers and that of their sons as to its effects ? If so—
wherefore? Has it come to pass that mere intellectual
preparation for the pulpit greatly predominates over the
spiritual and emotional.—that the head is everything, the
heart nothing? “The letter killeth but the spirit giveth
life.” And as the highest degree of heart-preparation
is the chief source of power in the pulpit, so the closet
has been appointed as the unseen presence-chamber of the
Almighty, in which alone that preparation canbe achieved.
“But then, when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which
is in secret; and thy Father which secth in secret, shall
reward the openly.”

“When one that holds communion with the skies
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise,

And once more mingles with us meaner things,

‘Tis e’enas if an angel shook his wings;

Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide

That tells us whence his treasures aro supplied.” ~~~
THE BETTER COUNTRY.

HE sermon delivered by Dr. Mattison at the Sing
4] Sing Camp-meeting on Thursday, August 13,.

 

1868, was one of unusual beauty, pathos, and power.
It was on a subject for which he cherished a ten-

der fondness and to the contemplation of which he was
always glad to turn aside from the sterner teachings of
revelation. Tho effect upon the Christian portion of the
audience was enrapturing to a degree seldom witnessed—
a fact which may be easily conceived from the reading of
it. While the skeleton of his last valedictory as a pastor;
elsewhere given, shows the mode of his pen-preparation
for the pulpit, the full sermon here supplied illustrates the
use which he was accustomed to make of that preparation

in preaching.
.

THE BETTER COUNTRY. 225

HEAVEN.

“But now they desired a better country, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is

not ashamed to be celled their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.”—
Heb. 11: 16,

We are beings of hope and of fear: we are attracted
by the one, and repelled by the other. God appeals to us,
in all our worldly interests, through both our hopes and
our fears. We hope for a competency, hope for fruitful
harvests, hope for days of peace; we fear want, old age,
days of darkness and calamity. Now, in religion, God
takes us as we are—appeals to us as he does in all other
matters that relate to the present world. He appeals to
our hopes by revealing a world of indescribable beauty
and glory, called paradise, heaven, eternal life, eternal
glory—various terms importing, in the main, the samo
thing. He appeals to our fears also. He tells us there is
a land of woe, a land of darkness and the shadow of death
—the prison house of his universe, the appropriate home
of devils, the final resting-place of the lost.

Religion always tends to beautify. It enhances the
beauty of an individual’s person. Persons become agrec-
able and look better by becoming pious. One whose brow
is always knit and whose disposition is peevish soon trans-
fers his disposition to the muscles of the face. Such is
the connection betweon the body and the soul that dwells
in it. Butlet him become pious, let the heart be all set
right; let there be peaco with God, love toward man,
226 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

the prospect clear, with victory over sin, death, and the
powers of the world; wearing a smile from sunrise to
sunset, week-days as well as Sabbaths, at work as well as
in ‘church—everything looks sunny and beautiful about
him. Let religion go into a village where houses are
dilapidated, where people are ragged and children are
uncared for, and let it do its work, build its houses and
rear its altars, and such will be the effect upon the people,
that five years afterward you would not know the place.
This is the legitimate effect of religion. As holiness
makes everything look better in this world, by parity of
reasoning, when I reach the holiest place, I expect to see
the most beautiful and the most glorious place in the
universe of God. I look up yonder to Saturn; it is one
of the most gorgeous objects in the heavens. Those
beautiful silver rings—oh! how they glitter in the sun-
light, in the far-off depths of immensity! It is very beau-
tiful. But God has only hung that up to let us look at it,
simply saying: “TI give you a little notice beforehand lest
it be too much for you to bear: when you die and reach
heaven, I have something more beautiful than you have
ever seen on earth.” Now, thisis to be the special dwell-
ing-place of God. There is a great deal of beauty in
other worlds; but when I get to heaven I expect to see
in the dwelling-place of God more of beauty and more of

glory in its structure than earth or the universe has
known elsewhere.
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 997

All the types of the Bible teach us this fact. What
was that old tabernacle in the wilderness, the most gor-
geous that earth has ever known? What was that temple
on Mount Zion? Why was it banded with gold? why
those glittering turrets? why that costly drapery within,
with its gems and pearls? God meant to say to us:
“This is to represent heaven. Iam going to use this in
future days to represent the house not made with hands.
Do you see how large itis? Do you see how it glitters
and how richly adorned ? Then think of the other house
to which this is the portico, and through which the old
Jews went up to the one that had endless foundations.”

Good men, in all ages, have been influenced by both
thoughts, where God’s revelation was known—the hope of
happiness and the dread of pain—and as I understand the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, it always embodies both. A gos-
pel that is all law, all terror, all death and ruin, is but a
partial gospel; a gospel that is all heaven, all promise,
with no penalties, no hell for the unforgiven, in a land
beyond the grave, is equally destitute of the element of
convicting power, which God has ordained to be laid upon
the consciences of men by his holy ministers, and where
that is omitted, there is no conviction; where it is partially
omitted, convictions are very weak, awakenings very feeble,
conversions faint.

But I said God’s people have always looked heavenward.
The old Hebrews had a promise of the land of Canaan,
228 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

but they looked beyond that, not being confined to transi-
tory promises; they looked for another Canaan, which
that but typified, and the text I have read relates to them,
and this moro distant view beyond the Jordan of Palestine,
beyond the vine-clad hills of the Holy Land—another
country. Of them, the Apostle says: .
“Now, they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly.”
And, as they gazed, so millions have stood and gazed up-
ward and hoped, and have been inspired and moved with
‘quicker and firmer step in the way to God, as they have
sung of everlasting deliverance; and millions still stand
looking, not at the things that are seen, but on the things
that are unseen. And, if I mistake not, this is one of the
means that God has ordained, and for this end he has
revealed it in the Bible: that, amid our sorrows, obstacles,
discouragements, and trials, we should look up, and, as
we look up, we should become encouraged, and should
grow happy and strong, and that, through this truth and
this heavenward gazo, God’s people should be made holier
by thinking and singing of heaven, and looking toward it.
I think there is here an element of sanctification, for 1
never can dwell on heaven, in my meditations, but I find
in it a sermon to me to haste to get ready to enter through
the gates into that celestial world where my hopes centre.
And, now, while I talk to you a little time concerning that
land, will you pray, as I do, that He who revealed heaven
to us, while we think upon it, talk about it, and look

Ey
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 229

’ toward it, would bless the vision to all his saints here ?

What are we authorized to believe and to hope concern-
ing that life of the righteous: beyond the tomb, which we
call heaven? First, I think we are authorized from the
Bible to believe that heaven is not only a felicitous state
of mind, buf, also, a place—both a state and a place.
Now, this seems tv be implied in the fact that God has or-
dained that there should be sacred places all over this sin
smitten world where we dwell—places that are more holy
than other places. While Iam no Romanist, and have
no superstitious reverence for things that ought not to be
revered, I revere a house of God when it is consecrated to
him; it is not like a commercial building, nor even like a
college.

All the figures of the Bible point to a local heaven.
What was paradise but a place? and that is one of the
terms under which God reveals the everlasting home of
the saints. He speaks of it as a house; a house isa
dwelling place; heaven isa house not made With hands.
It is spoken of as a city; a city isa local collection of
people and of dwellings: heaven isacity. It is spoken
of in my text asa country. The land of Canaan was a
country, having its boundaries and its centre. Heaven is
a better and aheayenly country. When Enoch was trans-
lated, he went in a chariot of fire to heaven. Did he not

~ go somewhere? Did he not find a landing-place somewhere,

where those fiery coursers, that chariot of God stopped, and
230 ‘THE BETTER COUNTRY.

let down the steps for him to alight? So it was with Eli-
jah, when the state chariot came again, he went somewhere.
He did not have his heaven here, but he was taken up to
heaven. So, when Jesus Christ arose from the dead, and,
after forty days, left this world, he ascended up into hea-
-ven. I suppose that Elijah went where Enoch had gone,
and that Jesus Christ went where both of them lived, and
that those who rose from the dead after Christ arose, went
where the three had gone, and, if we are faithful to God,
we shall go where they all have gone—to heaven at last,
the home, the house, the country, where God’s people
shall dwell. :

Now, then, we are finite; and I have said in my own
soul, I feel the want of a local heaven. I cannot conceive
how Ishould know myself floating away, a kind of mythi-
eal existence, with nothing but vacuity all around me. I
want some anchorage. As the poet has said of God:

' “To fix a point, a central point, collective of his suna,

As standards call the listed from afar,

Since finite every nature but his own.”
My finite nature calls out for a local heaven, for a place to
which I may go; and my social nature still more. Itmay
do for my Unitarian or Universalist friend (I do not wish
to displease him, but Ithink he has not quite got up to
the Bible idea of heaven, and much less of the other
world)—it may do for him to be satisfied with a heaven
thatis merely in his own bosom, for him to go and live
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 231

somewhere alone, and have no collecting together, even in
heaven, or the other world ; but I expect to carry my social
nature to the land beyond the grave; and if, in this world,
I stretch out my poor mortal hand and grasp the hand of
a good brother, and Iam blessed in so doing, and am
happier and stronger by seoing his face and he by seeing
mine, so I think that heaven, without associations, and
without minglings of spirit, would be a defective heaven.
My soul reaches out for it, and, therefore, there must be
some place where we can get together—like our churches,
like the tabernacle and the temple, like a camp-meeting,
if you please—where God’s blessing is on us, and where
we are happy and rejoice together. Now, Isaiah said,
pointing onward to the close of time, that the ransomed of
the Lord should return, and come to Zion, with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy
and gladness, said he, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away. That never was true of Mount Zion yonder at
Jerusalem ; it was never true of the ransomed of the Lord
that dwelt in mortal bodies. It can only have its fulfilment
when all God’s ransomed ones shall go up to -the other
Zion :
“Shouting their heavenly Zion gain,
And pass through death triumphant home.”

And so our Lord taught. ‘‘They shall come” said he
“from the East and from the West, from the North and
from the South, and shall sit down with Abraham and
232 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God.” There is a
local gathering together in a place called heaven.

But I remember, when a boy in the ministry, being
asked: ‘You say there is a heaven and a hell. Tell me
where heaven is, and perhaps I will receive your doctrine.”
One says: “I think it is this earth on which we dwell: it
is going to be regenerated, to be purified by fire, and here
righteousness shall dwell.” I have no doubt the earth
will be purified in the grand restoration, and will be a
suitable place for holy beings. So far as holiness is con-
cerned, it may be as holy as heaven itself, and yet I can-
not believe that this is to be the everlasting abode of the
saints of God. I cannot now argue this millenarian
question ; but I will give you these two ideas, and pass
along. My first reason is that it is not glorious enough to
answer to the Bible description of heaven and never can
be such without very great additions. I look right up in
the heavens, and there is a world fifteen hundred times as
large as this; I look yonder to the centre, and I find one
inconceivably greater than that—five hundred times as
large as earth, and Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune, and all the satellites put together. Now,
I do not suppose that God is going to pick up some little
country cross-roads, and make that his metropolis; I do
not suppose that he is going to take this little, trembling,
murky atom on which we dwell, and make that the city of
the Great King. My second reason is that there is a
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 233

heaven now; its foundations are not to be laid. Our
friends went to heaven; and heaven is not going to be re-
moved, and brought from yonder down here. Weare going
there; they are not coming here. Iknow that one good
man had a beautiful conception, and it may be true. I
refer to Dr. Dick. He looked up, and said: “ Yonder
is the pale moon, paying her endless tribute to the earth—
earth is the centre.” Then he thought of the earth here:
she is paying her tribute forever to the glorious sun, which
is her centre, and all the other planets are revolving in
their pathways. Then he took Madler’s great thought,
that the sun himself is alse moving on in his great
journey, as the moon, in every twenty-nine and a half
days, makes her revolution around this world. Then, he
said, if the sun is traveling thus, he must also have his
centre, linking with it the idea that all this stellar system,
in the midst of which the sun is imbedded, and to which
we belong, is but a sisterhood of worlds, making one
cluster of nebulee in the furniture of infinitespace. This
whole nebulous system may be moving away, and how
many more equal groups may be moving he could not say.
As this seems to be the order of the universe, following
up this analogy, somewhere there must be a grand centre
around which they all revolve, as the moon around the
earth, the earth around the sun, and the sun around Alcy-
one in the Pleiades, and all the rest around something—
where, he could not tell. He said the sun had only re-
234 THE BETTER COUNTLY.

.volved one three thousandth part of its orbit, and yet the
years of eternity give him time to roll round and round.

That is a sublime conception. I expect Dr. Dick knows
now. I will wait my time, for I feel as one good brother
did, who knew something of astronomy; when he was
happily conyerted to God some man said to him, “TI sup-
pose you will give up your astronomy now ?” “Oh! no,”
said he; ‘‘I will study astronomy still, and take the stars
in my way, for I am going to heaven.” I will leave that
as to where itis. Itis not very important for me or you
to know; if ithad been, God would have told us. A man
who should want to know where a certain city in Europe
is, if he did not understand the geography of Europe,
could not know anything aboutit; and how can I know
where heaven is till I understand the map of the universe ?
If an angel should come down here, and tell me, I should
not know what he meant. We must die to understand
that. But that there is a heaven is a glorious and im-
portant truth.

I observe, secondly, that heaven, without doubt, has a
material basis, or, if you please, foundation—that it is a
material as well as a spiritual world. I know our pre-
judices are all against that. We see matter ever chang-
ing, ever decaying, and oft becoming offensive. We as
spirits, are linked to a decaying, corruptible body. All
our observation, therefore, goes to prejudice us against
everything that is material; and yet God has made a
TUE BETTER COUNTR«. 235

thousand things in this world to teach us that material
things are not necessarily corruptible. He has given to
us the diamond and the gold, and they preach to us that
lesson. Now, I do not conceive of any moral impurity in
matter in itself. I think God has made ten thousand
worlds that are as pure and holy, negatively, as Gabriel
himself. God has made them so; so that this fact is ho
objection to a material abode. Then, in the second place,
we are to have a resurrection ; our material bodies are to
be raised from the dead. Christ had a body, and, in that
body, he ascended up on high, and now sitteth at the
right hand of the Father. Those bodies require a ma-
terial world. In the resurrection of the dead, we shall
not be blind, we shall not be without eyes; and what is
the use of eyes without light? and what is the use of
eyes and light without anything to see? The very. resur-
rection of the dead in our vile bodies, changed and made
glorious, implies not only a place, but a material abode.
Everything will be adapted to it. In this respect, we
shall have eyes with which to see, ears with which to
hear, and voices with which to sing the everlasting songs.

More than this. Much as we may decry. the pleasures
of sense, abstractly and in themselves considered they
are ordained of God, and are just as pure and holy to the
righteous as any other joys. Do you doubt it? It is
right for me to see beautiful things, if they are innocent,
and to hear delightful sounds if they are innocent.
236° THE BETTER COUNTRY.

Adam had eyes, and ears, and voice, and we shall have
beyond the resurrection morning, and in the heavenly
world forever. How a spirit can see, or hear, or speak,
we may not conceive; how an immortalized man can hear
with his immortal ears or see with his immortal eyes,
we cannot tell. We do not want to speculate. These
things in heaven itself may minister to the holiest joys of
the saints of God. We shall be there in our immortal
bodies. I shall want the eyes that God gives me in the
resurrection made powerful and glorious, to see my fellow —
ransomed ones in their immortal bodies. I shall want to
hear them, and speak to them; for the older I grow, the
less I believe that heaven is to be so utterly unlike the
land in which we live. Take away sin, and we shall
find many things there that will remind us of this world
below. Then, again, how the material world may illus-
trate the wisdom, power, goodness, and glory of God to
all eternity! The good man sees it in his works. How
many, walking in a garden of flowers, have become as
happy as if they bowed down in secret prayer, secing the
glory of God in the variety and fragrance of the flowers!
Oh! how it tells of the infinite resources of Him who
shaped and painted every one. I expect I shall study God,
not only here, mingling with his people, but by knowing
something of his works, of his skill, of his power, of his
beneficence, as shown in the material creation after death.
Ican do it now; I can do it better after I am raised from
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 237

the dead. I cannot seo here without helping out my
sight, first with glasses, then with a microscope, the min-
ute creations of the Deity, and then with the telescope, to
bring distant objects near; but when God raises me from
the dead, who can tell but that I shall be able to adjust
my eye to make it telescopic and microscopic, and thus
make it serve all the ends that God can make an optical
instrument serve in the land of mortals. O brethren! it
doth. not yet appear what we shall be in the world to
which we go. Who can doubt that heaven will be of sur-
passing beauty and magnificence ?

All the pictures of the apocalypse teach the same doc-
trine. Heaven is described as the holy city, the New
Jerusalem, coming down out of God. What a vast city!
how high its walls! how glorious its gates of pearl.
There is Mosaic in all the walls, representing the twelve
tribes of Israel, and all along are the names of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb. What is that for? Why, it is to
raise our conception of our eternal dwelling-place. That
is the great end of that vision, as I conceive.

What does the Bible teach more specifically about it?
It teaches, first, that there will be no sin there. ‘There
shall in no wise enter into it that which defileth,” (my
unconverted hearer, remember that), ‘‘ neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they who are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.” There is a prohibition.
The angel at every gate has his charge: ‘“ Let none enter
238 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

here that are unholy; let none be admitted that wear not
the regalia of the skies. If they come in white, bid them
welcome ; if with robes unwashed, they have no place
here.” What a glorious picture that is in the Apocalypse!
—they are these in white.

There is to be nodeath there. O! thatword “death!”
O! that reality before us all—‘‘death!” "When we come
to die, friends may accompany us to the bank of the
stream, but they cannot pass beyond. You, my brother,
you, my unconverted hearer, must die alone, must go that
untrodden way. And how death has agonized us! How
many hearts are here that have bled at parting with hus-
band, wife, or children! O! the desolation that it has
wrought and will continue to work until time is no more!
Well, king of terrors, what about that world yonder?
“There shall be no more death.” This would be no gospel
to the angels or to the dwellers in any other world. If
they never sinned, they would not know what it meant,
but we know by observation what death is. Now, he says,
there shall be no more death; neither shall they die any
more. Christ hath abolished death. David said that was
the land of life. “This is the land of death—it is all life
there. There flows the river of life; there stands the tree
of life; itis all life in that glorious world. They wear a
crown of life.

There is a period coming when we shall get beyond the
power of death, when there will be no sorrow or pain, for
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 239

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain; for the former things are
passed away. As when the storm has gone by, and the
rainbow spans it with its glittering hues, so shall we look
back on the storms of life, and remember that they are
“‘passed away.” “They shall hunger no more, neither
shall they thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat; for the Lamb, which is in the midst
of the throne, shall lead them to living fountains of
waters, and God shall wipe ayay all tears from their eyes.”

Where now those weeds of mourning? Where now
the habiliments of bereavement and sorrow? "Where now
the tolling bell and the graveyard scene? Left behind,
and left forever.

“No tears shall be In heaven, no darkened room,
No bed of death, or silence of the tomb;
But breezes ever fresh with love and truth
Shall brace the frame with an immortal youth.”

God points to itand says: “Rest.” Now, to those that
never were weary, those whose systems never faint, this
would be no incentive. Here we toil, we row away to
make the blest shore. The great majority of God’s people
havo to labor with their hands, many of them unduly
labor, struggle, toil, and wear out; health breaks down,
sickness comes, and death at last. Now, God says to
every toiler, knowing our lot here: “There remaineth
therefore, a rest to the people of God.” “Blessed are the
240 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labor.”
‘Here we rest,” said the old Indian chief, long years ago,
having been pushed on and on by the white man: he went
up to alarge tree that he thought woulé stand, and inscrib-
ed on it hieroglyphics, and when asked what it meant,
he said, “ Alabama.” "What does Alabama mean? It
means: ‘“ Here we rest.” He had crossed, as he supposed,
the last stream, and the white man would disturb him no
more. And so, when God’s saints cross the river of death,
though I think they will be very careful not to mar the
tree of life, yet they will feel like inscribing on all the trees
of Paradise their heavenly immortal ‘ Alabama”—here
we rest forever.

T expect God will honor a great many there who are not
much honored in this world. In the first place, though I
do not know the full force of it yet, God’s people are to sit
at the right hand. Does not that mean a place of honor?
Elsewhere Jesus has said if we acknowledge him before
men, he will confess us before the Father and the holy
angels. If immortals could blnsh, I expect a great many
would blush when they see the angels, God’s ushers, run-
ning down and. beckoning some poor widow whom nobody
cared for in this world, who died in a garret and was buried
in a pine coffin; they beckon her away, “Come up
higher,” and singing, as they bear her away on their
“snowy wings,” and place a crown upon her brow. “They
shall be kings and priests unto God.” I do not know
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 241

what that means; but I know it means something blessed.
People have the foolish idea here that kings are very hap-
py and very exalted, and God accommodates our weakness,
and says, ‘if you want a crown, I will give you one; if
you want to be a king, I will make you one, and your
reign will not be for a short time” (there are no revolu-
tions there), ‘‘ but for ever and ever.”

That is the land of the believer’s triumphs. He shall
triumph over sin in this world; he shall triumph over the
world there; he shall triumph over the fear of death, and
he will then have triumph over the grave. And that is
the meaning of those palms of vietory. ‘‘ They overcams
through the blood of the Lamb.” Then think of the end-
less joy and the songs which describe the felicity of
heaven. ‘They sang a new song before the throne, and
before the four beasts, and the elders, and no man could
learn that song but the one hundred and forty and four
thousand which were redeemed from the earth.” I think
we have generally had the correct idea that it is a song
which the angels cannot sing. There is a verse of one of
our hymns which we will not sing in heaven. We shalt
nover sing that blessed old hymn,

*« Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,”
but there is one we will sing, which is a favorite hymn of
mine:

“O happy day! that fixed my choice
On thee, my Saviour and my God!”

Heaven will be a land of immortal reunions. I'some-
242° THE BETTER COUNTRY.

times wish I could never speak of my own experience or-
feelings; but I am so out-spoken I can hardly help it. A
brother talked about his children here to-day. I could but
think of those that I have laid away in four different
graveyards, yonder in the cold north, the field of my
early ministry: no two of them sleep together. It seems
rather painful; yet I do not know but it is just as well,
because they won’t sleep there long. We will come to-
gether, not like bringing them together in some graveyard,
where I could go and plant flowers and whisper to their
spirits, but where there are no graves and no tears. I look
forward to that. The last that I buried was a little cherub
of twelve years and two months, a little saint of God, and
the only regret I have ever had about her was that I
thought so little then of childhood conversion. I was sor-
ry I did not bring her to the communion three years be-
fore, for I believe she was as ripe for heaven as many an
old Christian. She talked with much calmness of that
better world, and said: ‘‘Ma, don’t weep so; it makes me
feel as if you thought it would not be well with me after
death.” How clear-her path! We could not hold her,
but laid her away yonder in my father’s orchard, on the
shores of Lake Ontario. Only four years have passed
away, but can I cease to love her? No, no; years do not
diminish that affection. But how should I feel if there
was no hereafter? How should I feel if I, expecting to
be saved myself, should never hear of her in the heavenly
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 248

land? I shall carry my memory with me beyond the
grave, and I believe, as religion sanctifies and keeps alive
this love for my dead, as I go toward old age and the
grave, it will outlive the final stroke, and I shall remem-
ber her still in the land to which I go. How should I
feel if I knew she was there and could not find her?

I went to Boston, a year ago last June, to a great con-
vention there. I had never beenin New England. I
went to No. 5 Cornhill, and saw one hundred ministers,
but there was not one among them all that knewme. I
went elbowing my way among them, and got a new idea.
I thought, if there will be no recognition of friends in
heaven, what a lonesome place it will be fora poor man
who gets there! Atlength, I found aman who exclaimed :
“Why, Brother Mattison,is it you?” ‘Is this Brother
Mattison?’? said another, and so the introduction went
around. It wasa Book-Room heaven ina short time. I
expect it will be so when we join our sainted friends in
heaven; I expect that we shall know each other there.

The dying mother has often said to adaughter: “ Will
you meet me in heaven?” ‘Yes, mother, I will,” was
the response of the sobbing heart. The mother passes
away, and the daughter dies at length in the Lord, and
they will meet to partnomore. Twoyears ago, a mariner,
who had been on a whaling voyage to the Pacific, entered
New-Bedford. He left his wife and little boy behind, and
had been gone three years. As the ship came near, he
244 THE BEITER COUNTRY.

became so excited that when the orders were given he
could not obey, having lost control of himself. By and by
he saw people in the distance, and asked the privilege of
looking through the glass. Up yonder on the hill, back
of them all, he saw a woman, by whose side there stood a
boy, and she had a glass in the use of which she appeared
to be equally interested. I need not describe the scene of
their coming together. They met; but after a few weeks
he had to take another voyage, and run the risk of ship-
wreck and of never returning. But when we meet, we

shall not part again.
“There all the ship’s company meet
Who sailed with the Saviour beneath ;
With shoutings each other they greet,
And triumph o’er sorrow and death.
The voyage of life’s at an end,
The mortal affliction is past :
The age that in heaven they spend
. For ever and ever shall last.”

O God! speed our footsteps to the eternal city. I have
the best to tell you. Itis a land of uninterrupted peace
and eternal communion with God. It will be pleasant to
gaze upon those streets of gold, that glorious imagery of
material things; it will be pleasant to see each other face
to face, and to see the Saviouras he is. But itis not the
beauty of heaven that makes its essence and its glory ; not
the freedom from sin and death and sorrow and pain ; not
the rest that remaineth; not the crowns and the harps and
the robes of white; not the songs of deliverance and the
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 245

greetings of the saints. These are all thrown in, like the
blessings we have here in connection with a godly life, but
it is something more than that. We shall see God and be-
hold the King in his beauty. O! that better country and
heavenly! I do not wonder the old Hebrews desired it,
and God said he was not ashamed of them. That scems
to imply that there are those who profess to be his followers
that he is ashamed of; but those that keep their eye on
heaven and eternal things God is never ashamed of, and
he has prepared for them a city.

I say, first, in conclusion, that is the land of my hopes,

with all my weaknesses, ignorance, and infirmities:
“The hope that points to distant years,
And opens through this vale of tears
A vista to the skies.”

That is the land of my soul; there is where I wish to
dwell forever. We nauat go through the tomb, but beyond
it is aland of brightness unshaded by the gloom of death.
This is what heaven sets before us to stimulate our piety
and strengthen usin the way. And now, if you wish to
know where heaven is, I think Ican tell you. It is at the
end of a good man’s life, for the difference is so little you

will never know it.
For we know when the silver cord is loosed, and the veil is rent away,
Not long and dark shall the passage be to the realms of endless day;
For the eye that shuts in the mortal hour shall-open the next in bliss,
The welcome shall sound in the heavenly world, ere the farewell is hushed in
this.”

Secondly, if such is our home at last, why should we
246 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

not be contented and happy, come what will, here? Iam
ashamed if I ever did-repine any, but I feel thankful to
God that in reference to that thing I have had a little
grace. I have never had any gloomy days: nor have I
had any trouble as to my conversion and acceptance with
God. If such is our home at last, why should we not do
as Paul did when he said, “1 reckon that the sufferings
of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us”? Do the clouds come
up around you? Lift your eyes to heaven; look to the
New Jerusalem; gaze on the things unseen, until you are
changed, as it were, into the same image from glory to
glory.

I feel that it is best for us to go singing through the
world. I think one of the evidences that the Methodists
are the people of God is, that they are generally so happy
and sing so well. People used to say that Methodism
would make a Quaker sing. I hope it will be so till the
end of the world. Who of all to whom I speak would
not spend his everlasting years in such a world as the one
I have described? The skeptic, who may be here, says
in his heart: “If there be such a world as that, I want
to go.”

Well, now, dying hearer, life soon ends; the night
cometh, and what then? what after death ?

“ What are thy hopes beyond the grave §
How stands that dark account?”
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 947

Oh! come and stand with me here, and look out on the
everlasting years that roll beyond the flood; count the
leaves of every forest, the drops of every ocean, the sands
of every sea, and let them tell of the ages of long eternity
that you must fill up with joy or woe, and answer to thy
soul, thy conscience, and thy God, where would you spend
those everlasting years? Come what will—life, death,
disappointment, losses, pain, feebleness—come one, come
all, yet may my God grant me this: that I fall not of
heaven at last. Let me be saved, and itis enough: let
the waves roll if they will, and the thunders peal; let dys-
pepsia gnaw and disease make pale and tremulous—all
tight! Blessed be God!

I am in no hurry te go; I would stay here twenty years
more, but Iam ready when Godcalls me. I ask you,
sinner, whither you are bound? Is there any light ahead

%

in your caso? How is it with you, unconverted man,
prayerless father, bringing up your children without
pointing them to God, leaving them an example which will
be a sad heritage of woe to them when they look on your
cold, pale face in your coffin and at your burial? I call
upon you, as you love them, and are bound to the judgment
and must live forever, I call upon you to go with us to
heaven. Join this march of life to that better country and
heavenly. Do you ask the way? ‘ Thesé are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes
and made them whitein the blood of the Lamb; therefore
248 THE BETTER COUNTRY.

are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple.”
“Task them whence their victory came?
They, with united breath,

Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
Their triumph to his death.”

Now, ‘if any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross, and followme.” I trust, sinner,
that you desire to be saved: you do not want to perish
forever ; I trust you feel a drawing toward the New Jeru-
salem. It may be your last call: start now for the hea-
venly country. I set out thirty-five years ago, and am
determined to get there. I am going to have a crdéwn, a
robe, and a portion in that heavenly country.

An editorial item in The Methodist of January 9, 1869,
from which the above sermon was copied, made this
touching allusion to it:

“We publish as a memento of the late Dr. Mattison, a
sermon on ‘Heaven,’ delivered by him at the Sing-Sing
Camp-Meeting in August last. It is a scriptural and effec-
tive discussion of the theme, and read in the light of his
sudden decease, is an.impressive statement of the faith and
hope of a devout Christian.”

A fresh interest is now thrown around the “ sudden de-
cease,” of which the editor here speaks, by the unexpected
death of Dr. McClintock. Yesterday, March 8, 1870, a
vast congregation at St. Paul’s M. E. church, New York,-
wept over his lifeless form, which, after touching addresses:
THE BETTER COUNTRY. 249

by Bishops Janes’and Simpson and other appropriate ser-
vives, was borne to the beautiful Greenwood Cemetery,
and there laid away to ‘‘restin hope ” of aglorious resur-
rection. Less than a year before, he was one of the
speakers who made addresses in memory of Dr. Mattison
at the memorial service of the Newark Conference.

Fain would we give to the reader his address, but no
report of itis at hand. The many, however, who listened
to its thrilling utterances concerning Dr. Mattison, can
never forget the speaker or his chaste, fervid eloquence.'
Between the two men there was a wide difference on some

~ points of Church policy, but their personal friendship was
clese and true. How brief was their separation—how
blessed has been their re-union!
 

“WHOSE FAITH FOLLOW.”

a3£ concerning Abel it might be written by the hand
Niof inspiration----“‘He being dead yet speaketh ;”
sand if a single act in the life of Mary the sister of

 

Lazarus, could call forth from lips divine that tender.
eulogium-.---“ Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached
in all the world, there shall also this that this woman hath
done, be told for a memorial of her,” with how much em-
phasis may it be affirmed of Hiram Mattison, that his
‘works do follow” him. Not that all his works without
exception tended always to edification; and where may be
found the man living or dead, of whom such a statement
can be made? St. Paul writing of those whom he calls* '
“WHOSE FAITH FOLLOW.” 251

“our fathers,” describes them as “ensamples”—ensam-
ples as the context shows not less to warn us by their
follies than to stimulate us by their virtues.

It is Peter Bayne who says, ‘‘The veneration with
which several generations have regarded Luther and
Calvin”—he might have added Wesley—“is profound ;
but what Protestant would declare the character of
either of them to have been flawless.’”

If these pages have not portrayed a flawless life and
character it is because they have dealt in fact not fiction ;
therefore the shadings of human imperfection have of
necessity formed part of a picture luminous with excell-
ences. The constant aim has been to adhere to a real
exactness in recording every fact and delineating every
feature. The only known failure to accomplish this is the

borrowed incident described on pages 3 and 4, by Mr.
Taylor.

Though having a foundation in fact, it is not correctly
stated in some particulars as we learned after it had been
‘ eopied; and contrary to design it was set up and ster-
eotyped before attention could be called to the mistake
It is a thrilling picture and one which might easily have
found its complete basis in the troublous scenes from
which it was drawn. But there was so much of the
actual in Dr. Mattison’s diversified career to interest a
reader, that no occasion has been felt to employ other than
» facts in exhibiting his life ard character.
252 “wHOSE FAITH FOLLOW.”

This “labor of love” is now done. May the undis-
sembled piety, the diligent habits, the heroic courage,
the fidelity to conscience, and the self-sacrificing zeal
which so distinguished our subject while he lived, and
which now unite to give his name an honored place in the
galaxy of true greatness—may these well-attested and
fondly-remembered virtues prove a wholesome example to
all who work uxrre for a righteous success; and may the
glory which circled his victorious brow in death, be as the
eloquence of anew inspiration, saying to all who sigh for
REST HEREAFTER,— Be thou faithful unto death and I will
give thee a crown of life!”